All Rover bar the apology MONK ‘SORRY’ FOR OWLS HORROR SHOW
SHEFF WED 0 BLACKBURN 5
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY served up a Hillsborough horror show as their playoff hopes took a battering.
A week after stunning Leeds, the Owls were brought back down to earth.
They had a man sent off and were outplayed from first minute to last as Blackburn recorded the biggest away win in the Championship this season.
And this was against a team who began the day in 15th and had not won any of their previous six games.
It was Wednesday’s worst home defeat since 2001 and all Owls manager Garry Monk could do was say sorry.
“The only thing I can do is apologise after a scoreline like that,” he said. “It is a horrible day for us and I didn’t see it coming. There is anger and all the other emotions and we will deserve the criticism that comes our way.
“We had self-inflicted wounds and we have to take responsibility for that.”
It was a third straight home defeat and Monk’s team will not finish anywhere near the top six if they don’t sort that out.
He had gone with an unchanged line-up from the win at
Leeds but the visitors were brighter in the opening stages and took a deserved lead.
Adam Armstrong’s shot was parried back to him by goalkeeper Cameron Dawson and he had the presence to head it across to Lewis Holtby, who tucked it home, for only the second Rovers goal for the former Tottenham midfielder.
Wednesday’s bad start was then made worse as Aussie midfielder Massimo Luongo was shown a straight red for kicking Lewis Travis after just 23 minutes. Rovers were dominant but they had Lady Luck to thank for their second goal.
Dawson made a brilliant fingertip save to push Travis’s shot onto the post, but could do nothing as the rebound hit him on the back and rolled into the empty net.
And the points were sealed in first-half stoppage-time with the same combination involved as in Rovers’ first goal. Armstrong shrugged off some flimsy defending to get to the byline before squaring for Holtby to turn it over the line from close range. That was the cue for plenty of Wednesday fans to head for the exits and it wasn’t long before many more were joining them.
From a short corner, Stewart Downing had time to pick out unmarked Blackburn skipper Darragh Lenihan to volley in the fourth. The misery was complete with the last kick of
SHEFF WED BLACKBURN 1 ......... Shots on Target ......... 9 1 ......... Shots off Target ......... 5 1 ................. Corners ................. 5 14 ................. Fouls ................... 11 2 ............... Offsides ................. 4 70.3..Passing Success %...82.6 333 ....... Total Passes ........ 556 37.4 ..... Possession % ..... 62.6 49.2..Territorial Adv % ..50.8 the game as Sam Gallagher raced clear to hammer in the fifth, leaving boss Tony Mowbray (below) delighted.
“It’s been coming,” he said. “We hadn’t won in six but the performance levels had been good.
“The initial loss of Bradley Dack hit the team and trying to find a way to play without him has been a conundrum.
“I understand the team played against 10 men for over an hour but we were dominant and on the front foot for the first 25 minutes or so.
“The scoreline may be a surprise but we came here thinking we were going to win.”