It’s a Hec of a win as Brucie deal nears
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY caretaker manager Lee Bullen says Steve Bruce’s coaching staff would have liked what they saw in their win over Preston.
Bruce has been offered £2million a year to return the Steel City club to the Premier League and he sent his coaching staff Steve Agnew and Stephen Clemence to take on a watching brief from the directors’ box.
Talks between Bruce and multi-millionaire owner Dejphon Chansiri are at an advanced stage.
He looks set to be appointed at the beginning of next week, ahead of a New Year’s Day clash with former side Birmingham.
But Bullen, who took charge the Owls following the sacking of Jos Luhukay on Friday, masterminded only their second win in 11 games courtesy of Michael Hector’s
62nd-minute header. Preston’s Ben Pearson had earlier sparked the game into life in the 26th minute when he saw red for a lunge on Marco Matias.
Bullen said: “I know the guys were watching from the stands (Agnew and Clemence) and I hope they take away that there is a very good team here and if they can play with that discipline and put out that type of performance then it won’t be a bad job to be going into.
“It’s been a tough few weeks and a tough last 24 hours but take nothing away from the players.
“They knew their job and they deserve all the credit for that performance.”
Pearson’s dismissal gave the Owls the boost they needed and they came close to opening the scoring eight minutes later when Lucas Joao headed Adam Reach’s cross against the post.
It was pretty much one-way traffic in the second half and the Owls finally made the breakthrough when Reach’s cross was glanced home by Hector after a short corner.
Preston boss Alex Neil said: “The sending off is a turning point. I’m not sure about it and it wasn’t the only decision that went against us.
“It was a poor game and I think if Ben doesn’t get sent off we would have gone on to win it.”