Beesotted contributor and former Brentford FC programme writer Ian Westbrook previews the Bees’ final Tuesday night home game of 2014 as Sheffield Wednesday come to Griffin Park for the club’s 125th anniversary celebration match.
HOW ARE THEY DOING?
Sheffield Wednesday have had a similar start to the season to Brentford and arrive at Griffin Park one point and one place behind us.
They have one of the best away records in the division with three wins and two draws from their six matches on the road.
If their record at Hillsborough, where they have only won one out of six games and have scored only three goals, had been better they would have been in at least the top six, where they were earlier in the season.
The Owls are without a win in four matches with Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat by Watford following two 1-1 draws, at Leeds and at home to Ipswich and a 2-1 loss at Cardiff.
Their last win was just over a month ago against Reading – a result which then left them fifth in the table.
Wednesday have been in the Championship since winning promotion as League One runners-up in 2012.
They were founder members of the Premier League in 1992 but have not been in the top flight since 2000.
WHO’S THE GAFFER?
Stuart Gray was appointed as permanent Sheffield Wednesday head coach in January after a month as caretaker-manager following the departure of Dave Jones.
He has previously managed Southampton and Northampton and had temporary spells in charge of Aston Villa, Wolves, Burnley and Portsmouth and has coached at Crystal Palace.
In his playing days Stuart featured as either a left-back or a midfielder for Nottingham Forest, Bolton (loan), Barnsley, Aston Villa and Southampton before injury ended his career.
THEIR LAST VISIT
APRIL 28, 2012 – LEAGUE ONE: BRENTFORD 1-2 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY
Sheffield Wednesday were last in TW8 for our final home game of the 2011/12 season – a match which moved them into the automatic promotion positions and finally ended our mathematical chances of reaching the play-offs.
Having had a fighting chance of finishing in the top six after four successive wins, Brentford managed to pick up just two points from our next three games before Wednesday’s visit.
That left us needing two wins from our final two games plus a combination of other results going in our favour to keep our slim promotion hopes alive.
Wednesday had more on the match than we did, arriving third in the table and a point behind city rivals Sheffield United.
And they took the lead in the 38th minute when Keith Treacy scored with a free-kick from just outside the area.
Clayton Donaldson levelled from the penalty spot with his 10th goal of the season just past the hour mark but former Bee Miguel Angel Llera won it for the visitors when he headed in a Treacy cross.
Wednesday’s day was completed when United were held to a 2-2 draw by Stevenage in the day’s late game to leave the Owls in second place – and they confirmed promotion by beating Wycombe the following Saturday.
Brentford: Moore, Logan (Hacker 82), Bidwell, Osborne, Balkestein (Bean 82), Dean, Saunders, Douglas, Diagouraga, Donaldson, Forrester (McGinn 75). unused subs: Thompson, Legge.
Att: 7,381.
MEMORABLE MATCH
DECEMBER 11, 2004 – DIVISION THREE: SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1-2 BRENTFORD
Brentford climbed into the play-off zone after two goals in the final 10 minutes earned victory at Hillsborough.
The Bees had been forced to play most of the match with only 10 men following the 20th minute dismissal of centre-half Michael Turner for a foul on Steven MacLean.
It proved to be a double punishment for us as MacLean picked himself up, dusted himself down and beat Stuart Nelson from the resultant penalty.
Manager Martin Allen immediately brought on winger Alex Rhodes for striker Ben May and the decision proved to be a masterstroke as the Bees hit back in the second half.
Rhodes, whose goal on the final day of the previous season had kept Brentford in League One, equalised in the 81st minute from John Salako’s corner with his third goal of the season.
And 60 seconds later, Rhodes turned provider when he set up Deon Burton to score the winner and his sixth goal of the campaign.
The win took Brentford up to fifth in the table and dropped Wednesday down to 10th.
Brentford: Nelson, Turner, Frampton (Myers 45), Sodje, Talbot, Tabb, Hargreaves (Rankin 62), O’Connor, Salako, Burton, May (Rhodes 21). Unused subs: Julian, Harrold.
Att: 21,592.
BEES CONNECTIONS
There are no players or staff with Brentford connections currently on the books at Hillsborough.
DANGER MEN
Striker Stevie May, signed from St Johnstone in August, carries Wednesday’s main goal threat.
May, who scored 27 goals for the Perth club in all competitions last season, was on the bench for Scotland’s Euro 2016 qualifying win over Georgia and draw in Poland in the past fortnight and has scored three goals for the Owls so far.
He is the club’s joint top scorer alongside Atdhe Nuhiu, who signed from Turkish club Eskisehirspor in the summer of 2013.
Experienced goalkeeper Kieren Westwood, a summer signing from Sunderland, has made more than 300 club appearances and was among the substitutes for Republic of Ireland for their Euro 2016 win over Gibraltar and draw in Germany.
DID YOU KNOW?
Sheffield Wednesday got their unique name because they were founded by members of the Wednesday Cricket Club, whose players had a half day every Wednesday when they used to meet up.
The club was originally called Wednesday and The Wednesday before officially becoming Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1929.
Tune into the tomorrow for the Wednesday podcast … on a Tuesday … or subscribe to for the podcast to be downloaded automatically to your phone
)? Please vote for Beesotted at the Football Blogging Awards – Best Video Blog
Click logo to auto-tweet
Click for online form
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
CastBox
Acast
TuneIn
Google Podcasts
