MONK RELIEF 1 1
Harris strikes late to save his sparring Owls manager THE DAYS
KADEEM HARRIS spared Garry Monk’s blushes last night with a late leveller.
Alvaro Gimenez’s first goal since August looked to have given Birmingham caretaker boss Pep Clotet the last laugh against ex-colleague Monk.
The angry Owls manager said he felt “betrayed” by Clotet, his former No2, ahead of last night’s Hillsborough clash.
Monk, right, refused to shake hands with the Spaniard before and after the match, with the wounds clearly not having healed between the pair.
But Harris’ first goal for 15 games sealed a battling point and ensured Monk’s pre-match comments did not come back to bite him. Skipper Barry Bannan blazed over in the third minute as the hosts started brightly before Steven Fletcher wasted an excellent chance soon after.
At the other end, Jeremie Bela tried his luck from distance but dragged his right-foot shot wide of the target.
Midfielder Fran Villalba drilled a powerful shot straight at goalkeeper Cameron Dawson as the Blues grew into the contest.
But it was the Owls who looked more likely to score – and they would have taken the lead if not for a fine point-blank block from the Blues’ Connal Trueman.
The alert goalkeeper did superbly to spread himself and deny Kieran Lee at his near post. Monk’s team went close to breaking the deadlock just before the break but Moses Odubajo’s piledriver skimmed the crossbar. Centre-back Julian Borner was replaced at half-time by Tom Lees and, for whatever reason, the Owls were caught sleeping to allow the visitors to take a surprise lead. Bela whipped in a delightful cross from the right and Gimenez pounced.
Midfielder Jude Bellingham wasted a glorious opportunity to double the lead when he blasted wide from close range.
Harris then had a sweet shot deflected over the bar and Fletcher shot over from the edge of the six-yard box as the home team continued to be frustrated.
But Harris earned the equaliser with nine minutes left before Trueman denied substitute Atdhe Nuhiu with a fine save as the Owls nearly sealed a remarkable win.
SHEFFIELD WED (4-5-1): Dawson 6; Fox 6, Borner 6 (Lees 45, 6), Iorfa 6, Odubajo 6; Harris 8, Luongo 7, Bannan 7, Lee 6 (Forestieri 56, 5), Reach 5 (Nuhui 67, 6); Fletcher 5. Goal: K Harris 81
BIRMINGHAM (4-4-2): Trueman 7; Pedersen 6, Clarke-Slater 6, Roberts 6, Colin 6; Villalba 6, Bellingham 7 (Davis 82), Sunjic 6, Crowley 6; Bela 7 (Montero 70, 4), Gimenez 7 (Jutkiewicz 65, 5).
Goal: Gimenez 48.
ON THIS DATE IN SPORTING HISTORY
1929: Ernie Nevers scored an NFL-record 40 points for the Chicago Cardinals against the Chicago Bears. 1945: Dwight Davis, the man who founded the Davis Cup competition in tennis, died.
1990: Manchester United won 6-2 at Arsenal in the League Cup. On the same night Coventry beat Nottingham Forest 5-4. It was Forest’s first defeat in 22 matches in the competition.
2004: Stephen Maguire was crowned UK snooker champion after beating David Gray 10-1 in the York final. 2012: Ashley Giles was named England’s new limited-overs head coach.
2015: Jamie Vardy scored for the 11th match in a row to break Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record and earn a 1-1 draw with Manchester United. 2015: British fighter Tyson Fury won the WBA, WBO and IBF world heavyweight titles by beating Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko on points in Dusseldorf.