3 Consecutive Defeats...9 Goals conceded.....It's MILLER time!

I changed the whole routine today...I decided that me good luck routines weren’t working anymore, OK, OK…I should have realised that a while ago…but better late than never…anyway I decided a change was in order…So I ‘mixed it up’…as we say ont street.

I missed one of the three Sh’s out…I went shaveless…Oh aye, there’s no limit to the Beastie roustabout…

TBH, I didn’t really fancy it…I was suffering a bit with a smidge of a hangover…Ayelsbury was stopping over and I suspect he was still ‘under the weather’ too…

We’d been out Friday night in Sheffield to see a Rush tribute band and had a few too many…he was busting for a shit and had been baking it all morning…eventually when he got in there I expected it to be unpleasant upstairs for a good while and prepared for the worst but he was in and out of there within a minute or two! I couldn’t believe it. I have never known a bloke have a lady poo before…I mean women can go in and be back out without having had a blink and not even the faintest whiff in the air…Pete had done the same…Now don’t get me wrong, it’s very civilised of him when visiting but it’s also quite unnerving.

I’d decided to make it a day for Total Wednesday Adulation Time…a TWAT day…we really needed a TWAT day at the moment. They have to be used sparingly but we’d suffered in the last three games and today being against Leicester I felt the whole team needed a boost…I also had me brand new TWAT T-Shirt… There’s no comeback from a good TWATTING I can tell you. Once you know it’s a TWAT day everything slots into place, it’s incredible…grrreat shower yoga, excellent 3 Sh's…

…getting changed and getting everything together, driving down to get the young un, and setting off with Pete following us…all…REALLY good…the vibe was incredible…I was convinced this was our day…This was payback for when we played at the Walkers Stadium….

Get in the ground, bit of a natter with Titch, Charlie, JFD and Clurr outside that new beer van thing and we’re away to our seats…top half of the Lep’s end full of Leicester fans, making a bit of noise too TBF to em but then again, when your teams in the play off mix it’s a bit of a bugger if you can’t get a bit excited…

It was also a Help for Heroes’ day and there were a load of army lads in the ground, forming part of the line up for when the players come out of the tunnel and then marching past the kop to a generous and richly deserved round applause.



        
THE MATCH
-
Well…if Owls fans had their best whinging pants on and were fearing the worst but hoping for us to not make it TOO easy for an in form Leicester side but maybe try and keep the goalcount down…they were pleasantly surprised.

We had players returning from injury who were a huge boost for us, for the rest of the team and for the fans too…We now had some serious pace with JJ back and with Tommy Miller taking the other wing, some excellent skill too. We had Purse back in the defence and he was marshalling them like a strict father….

Right from the off we were at em…we didn’t give em a minute and we tried to get the ball passed around too, in fact I thought it was a very entertaining first half IMO…full of decent footy, incident and open play from both sides…that was when the referee would allow the game to go…

The players back in the side were making their presence felt

Leon looked right up for this, he was looking big, strong, willing and menacing…and when he got the early goal his confidence was boosted even more…Amongst a cluster of players over on the North Stand side Tommy Miller flicked the ball through for him…I think he actually wanted it back for the shot himself but Leon was bristling and in no mood for anyone else to steal his thunder and thunder was exactly right as really let a thundering shot fly…the power of the fooker put a right bulge in the net…I’m sure it gave a Leicester fan on the front row a bit of net burn…If you see someone in Leicester with a cross hatched face, you know why….Great goal and JUST WHAT WE FOOKIN NEED!

You could feel the warm glow around the ground…the home fans were fookin loving it…it had been a while in coming but Leon had eased the nerves and swept away the memories of the last three games in one stroke and we were making the most of it…Oh aye…

We looked to get forward at every opportunity but Leicester weren’t laying down and the goal did nothing to dampen their spirits as they got a few shots in themselves, especially from Gallagher and the impressive Waghorn who had one shot that looked an absolute stone cold certain goal but Grant dived low and right to get a wonderfully strong hand and wrist to it to push it away…it really was a superb save…in fact Waghorn went over to him afterwards and patted him saying ‘Good save Keeper’… Our own players too patting Grant on the back and Purse offering his own captains seal of approval…

It was just after that save that Leicester were forced into a change of their own keeper as he looked to have taken an elbow or something to the nose. The way they were walking off with him pinching his nose, Hollie thought it looked as though they holding a bit in place until the glue set.

Despite there being plenty of good football going on the ref seemed determined to spoil it all, and spoil it for both sides. Some of his decisions were scandalous but maybe none moreso than when Tommy went to head a ball at around chest height and was kicked in the head for his troubles….the ref obviously blew for a foul…but to Leicester.

Irvine was doing his nut…I’ve not seen him that animated before and I’m sure he was close to being told to sit in the stand….

Never mind that Tommy was laid out on the deck concussed, it was clearly a head butt to the Leicester players boot, fookin ridiculous….there were plenty more daft decisions and another belter was when Leicester got a corner North Stand/Kop side…Gallagher puts the ball down and it’s outside the line, so O Connor complains…ref tells him to come away…JOC tells him again…ref says come away…ref actually calls O Connor over to him as he walks over to ref to see what he has to say, they take the corner….and narrowly put it over the bar…So he’s allowed to take one of our players out of the game whilst they take the corner is he?

Fook Me!

It fired everyone up though…the crowd were on their feet and chanting the usual ‘Ya don’t know what ya doing’ but followed up with a rousing ‘We only get shit ref’s…we only get shit ref’s….’

If we thought we were angry then JJ was apoplectic….the red mist was down and he wanted a piece of the ref…he ran over to him with so much anger the other players had to head him off and calm him down…Soares warming up on the South Stand side called to him as he wandered over that side…telling him to calm down…and when the whistle went Soares ran onto the pitch himself to confront the ref…fending off JJ again before he started…’Allow me JJ’…’Now then ya pink shirted twat….’

We went in at half time a goal up and it was no less than we deserved in an enjoyable half of football.
            

            
When half time came around we noticed Neet Owl stood over at the fence to the South Stand…we haven’t seen him in absolutely fookin ages and he’s one of those folk that when we see him, we smile…there’s folk on this earth that do that, they’re few and far between but they make anywhere, anytime better and brighter by just being there. This day was turning into a right belter….
            

            
Well, when they came back out, minus Tommy who was suffering from that daft foul he made, we were expecting more of the same but maybe a little more from Leicester as they looked for the equaliser…

…it didn’t happen….for Leicester it didn’t happen anyway….We were by far the better side….

In fact they couldn’t live with us at times and they reverted to a bit of thuggery…their centre halves got all lairy.

I’d been quite impressed with Wayne Brown first half, I think he did a good job for them at the back but he changed second half and fouled and whinged in equal measures. He’s a menacing looking bugger though and his shaved head looks like a raisin Revel, all knobbly and that…he’s a big lad too… So is the other big centre half fooker at the side of him and they both knew they were in a game today…fook me they were run ragged and turned inside out by Leon and JJ….they didn’t give them a minutes peace…for big lads they went down like fairies at times and whinged like a pair of Catholic girls for the slightest of touches or if things didn’t go their way.

There was a moment of light relief when the scoreboard flashed up the score between the Pigs and Palace and a cheer went up that was quickly cut short…. Palace were winning…YEEEAAA-ooooooh….as everyone realised we need the pigs to win.

JJ had been full of himself all game but this half, running towards the kop he seemed to have increased his workrate and more importantly his pace….chuff me we’ve missed that….Billy Whizz on a fookin bike he is…he was leaving them for dead… Mindst you he left our own players for dead on one occasion when he put an absolutely belting ball right across the box, through the 6 yard box, behind the Leicester defence and it just needed steering home…it went untouched by us…a crime TBH…such a wonderful ball…fook me!

Fortunately I didn’t have time to say ‘I hope we don’t regret that’…when JJ beat them again down our right…a sublime ball over the top from Tudders and JJ didn’t even break stride…on the half volley he puts an almost identical cross in again…this time Leon’s there to side foot it home…it was a stunning goal from start to finish…cracking build up, lovely finish…all the pieces in the right place at the right time….I love goals like that…Leon peeled off towards the North Stand side to celebrate…JJ and Tudders came our way…GO ON FELLAS! YOU’VE EARNED THIS!

Once again….we deserved this lead…Leicester had nowt…no comeback at all….

We lost a little of the impetus when JJ was subbed, but he was getting a little weary on his first game back…as he left the pitch the Wednesday fans rose as one to give him a generous, heartfelt and well deserved ovation…it was good to have him back.

They brought on the fablious Stevie Aaard who I’d watched warming up….ya gorra love Stevie Aaard….well I do anyway…but even he couldn’t turn the game round for them.

At the end of match though it did get a little tense and you could cut the atmosphere at times as most Wednesday fans half expected us to capitulate and make hard work of it as the minutes ebbed away, but even though I viewed two very late Leicester free kicks just outside the box from between gloved fingers and my heart missed a beat or three we never really looked like letting them through…the back five had genuinely EARNED the clean sheet…They’d worked hard and concentrated fully from whistle to whistle. They worked well as a unit and Grant was definitely NOT gonna concede as he pulled out ANOTHER stunning certain goal save…

Hollie had pointed out early doors second half that they were fingertipping…they stood in a line, arms outstretched at their sides and made sure they could touch their team mate at the side of them with fingertips, making sure there was no empty space, they knew where their team mates were all the time and Purse really was excellent marshalling all this…He had a proper captains game today, really top stuff, cajoling, encouraging and bollocking when needed but really getting the best from the other defenders, the youngsters…praising them when they did well…they’ve been desperate for someone to shoulder a little of the pressure and keep them together…and when the ball landed in amongst the crowded penalty area Grant was confident and assured, leaping in to gather and calm everybody the fook down.

The ref finally got one decision right as he blew the whistle for full time and the vibe around the ground was incredible…you could fookin taste it…what a difference a win makes.
            

            
A few points…

This was a cracking team performance, possibly the best of the season and just when we needed it most. There were excellent performances all over the pitch there really were and it’s so difficult to leave players out but here are some major contributions to today…and this isn’t against a poor team, this is against an in form side that absolutely mullered us at their place and are definitely going to be in the mix up when the music ends.

JJ…it was so good to see the lad back and absolutely loving his football. He’s so bubbly and lively at times and brings such a buzz to the team and fans. His enthusiasm is wonderfully infectious.

Tommy Miller…I think a lot of fans today saw the reason Brian Laws brought him in…what we’ve been desperate for…we’ve missed a footballer like this for so long IMO…the first half he put 3 or 4 passes INTO the path of players…not round them, not to side of them, not behind them but into the path…no thinking about it, he did it instinctively… There was no time for the defenders to react because he does it quickly, decisively and accurately…second half he hit the ball with the outside of his right boot right into the path of Tudgay and I’m telling ya now…it was orbastardgasmic

When he didn’t have the ball he fookin wanted it and he left everyone in no doubts at all that they should give him it…He knows what other players want before they know they want it and he isn’t afraid to shoot…if he’s in position he’ll shoot, he has no fears on that count. It waint be long before he’s on the scoresheet.

The left side second half, when Nolan and Miller played together it was a right combo, it looked so assured and at times almost shexy football.

Leon was at his marauding best. He ran, he tackled, he dragged defenders, he never stopped working. Again his flicks and touches were back and he had them so frustrated at the back that they resorted to some poor defending.
A confident and composed Leon can fire us out of this drop zone.

Purse was back…I’ve given him some right hammer this season and it’s been thoroughly deserved but it can’t be purely coincidence our last clean sheet was his game before being injured and the next one is his first game back.
As I’ve mentioned he played a fantastic Captains role today and I kept a close eye on him when things went right AND wrong in defence and fair play to the fella he was excellent and will also be crucial to our end of season run in…fair play to the lad he’s really turned it around.

Granty…as good as Leons goals were the two saves were equally stunning…add to that his command of the area, especially when crowded and this was right up there with his best performances. He was absolutely vital to achieving this victory and kudos to the fella….he hasn’t let the flood of goals recently get him down or detract from his own game.
            

            
Two weekends on the trot now I’ve enjoyed a great craic only this time the footy was excellent to watch.

Wonderful stuff and a well deserved victory.

Cheers
Steve:Beastie
Owls Alive