SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY BARNSLEY BRUCE GLEE
Owls cheered by Steve’s parting gift
SHEFFWED BARNSLEY 7 ........ Shots on Target ......... 3 5 ........ Shots off Target .........6 6 ................Corners .................4 10................. Fouls ................. 22 2 ............... Offsides ..................1 63.7 .. Passing Success ... 78.2 270....... Total Passes ........ 487 36.3 .......Possession ........ 63.7 59.0 . Territorial Adv%.... 41.0 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY new boy Jacob Murphy got off to a dream start – thanks to Steve Bruce.
Bruce may be a Hillsborough hate figure after quitting the Owls pre-season for his ‘dream job’ with Newcastle United.
But he allowed Magpies’ winger Murphy to spend this season with his old club and he came good with his first touch.
Murphy put the Owls ahead over local rivals Barnsley after just two minutes.
And when old hand Steven Fletcher hit home Wednesday’s second, it gave a massive boost to the chances of caretaker boss Lee Bullen replacing Bruce in the job permanently.
Bullen ( right) said: “The people in charge will make their decisions but they seem quite happy with the situation at the moment. I can only control things at my level and I will be in on Monday to prepare for our next match.”
He added: “We set out to outdo Barnsley with constant pressure and we stuck to our game pl an t hroughout . I ’m extremely pleased with our performance.
“Jacob Murphy must have thought all his Christmases had come at once with his goal and Kadeem Harris was excellent too.
“Two out-and-out wingers, it was lovely to see.”
Wednesday didn’t look back after Harris’ shot was deflected into Murphy’s path and his angled shot beat stranded Tykes’ keeper Samuel Radlinger put the Owls ahead.
Murphy, signed originally by Newcastle for £10million from Norwich, had other chances to shine too. One effort flashed wide, before he chested down a far-post cross from Harris, but fail to get in a shot. As Wednesday dominated, Barnsley managed only two real bits of pressure up front. From a freekick, Alex Mowat drilled his shot straight into the defensive wall, and then a Cauley Woodrow effort was put wide by keeper Cameron Dawson.
With better finishing, the Owls should have been further ahead. Fletcher’s quick pass set up Adam Reach, but in a one-on-one showdown with Radlinger, the newly signed German keeper spread himself to keep him out.
Still the spotlight rested on Murphy as the lively flanker went down in the box in a tussle with Reds’ defender Mads Andersen, only for ref Tony Harrington to rule no penalty. But it would have been icing on the cake for the on-song Owls.
Quite simply Wednesday bossed most of the the game, making it 11 games in a row against Barnsley without defeat.
Tykes’ boss Daniel Stendel said he was more disappointed with performance than result.
He said: “After a bad start, we let them have too much of the ball. We lacked conviction but we will learn from this.”