OWLS FEAR DROP
Wednesday’s horror run leaves Pulis rock bottom
FAMOUSLY, Tony Pulis has never been relegated. Although on recent evidence, extending that record beyond next may would represent his greatest escapology act yet.
With a managerial career of 28 years spanning 11 clubs he has plenty of credit in the bank, but the inauspicious start to his Hillsborough tenure has Sheffield braced for double doom when it comes to its clubs and the drop this season.
This result, inflicted by yuri Ribeiro’s first goal for Nottingham Forest and a late second from substitute Lewis Grabban on his return from injury, leaves Sheffield Wednesday seven points from safety.
The season is not at its mid-point yet, of course, but with December’s saturated schedule it soon will be and Pulis’s team are showing glacial progress at best since his arrival last month.
In Nottingham Forest, they were facing the only team in worse form in the division. Six defeats and a draw from the previous seven matches meant the midlands club kicked off outside the bottom three on goal difference.
And despite their recent travails, the portents for an away victory were good, with five of the previous six visits to the City Ground ending that way.
yet the Owls went behind within four minutes in the meekest of manners as Forest worked the ball across the fringe of the area from a throw on the right, and Cafu guided into the path of former Benfica left back Ribeiro, who fired across keeper Joe Wildsmith and into the bottom corner.
However, Wednesday could have been punished again soon afterwards after Chey Dunkley bumped over Lyle Taylor on the edge of the area. Thankfully for them, Taylor’s free-kick thudded into the seats a dozen rows back.
Wednesday journeyed south down the m1 with a return of just three points from seven outings since owner Dejphon Chansiri opted to remove Garry monk and replace him with Pulis.
Despite a six-point deduction tion they had moved off the bottom of the Championship under monk, only for their wretched form to return at the start of the Pulis reign.
The yorkshire club’s unhappy spell was compounded at the weekend when defender Dominic Iorfa ruptured an achilles.
And they were thankful for another anot of their centre backs iin Dunkley keeping the half- time deficit to 1- 0 with a 33rd-minute clearance off the line after Taylor failed to get enough contact on the ball. Cafu also had the ball in the net for the hosts only for an offside flag to stifle celebrations. In response, Wednesday offered little: Kadeem Harris wriggled free but drove too centrally from the edge of the area, while Josh Windass failed to hit the target with their most presentable chance, a header from a Barry Bannan centre.
With Bannan representing their sole attacking threat, Wednesday sought to get the ball often into his feet although his most incisive intervention of the second period was when he tracked back to deflect Cyrus Christie’s threatning cross away.
Not that Chris Hughton’s side offered much greater offensive threat until Grabban celebrated his first appearance since late October by calmly slotting in to seal the three points late on.