MAY DAY BUT MALKY WON’T PANIC YET
MALKY Mackay drew on the positives as Wigan, hit by off-field storms, found themselves short of luck on it.
The Latics showed no signs of the stresses afflicting both the new manager and chairman Dave Whelan by producing an excellent away perfomance in an exhilarating game.
But it wasn’t enough to take a point back home as this game was settled by two-goal Stevie May, not that Mackay was getting too downhearted.
“We could have won and certainly shouldn’t have lost,” he said. “We came to a tough away game, dominated the ball and got ourselves ahead before conceding a poor goal.
“James McClean and Callum McManaman were always a threat and it was good for us to have Chris McCann and Ben Watson back in the side.
“I always felt comfortable in the second half but then we’ve given away possession and conceded again – even after that we had various chances.
“Our aim has to be to get out of trouble – and if we play like that, we will win more often than not.”
Anyone wanting to know why true football fans rave about the Championship should get a video of this blood and thunder classic. Free flowing and end-toend in the opening 45 minutes, the game developed into a battle between Wednesday’s steely resolve and Wigan’s fluent invention.
Chances abounded at both ends and the outcome was always as precariously in doubt as May’s match-winning header, which hit both posts and crawled just over the line.
Wednesday, who had only scored three league goals on home turf this term, started very brightly with Chris Maguire and Royston Drenthe providing impetus down the flanks. The early finishing of May and Atdhe Nuhiu however, told a familiar story.
The breathrough nearly came from an unlikely source. Defensive midfielder Jose Semedo usually has nose bleeds when he gets near goal but his skimming shot from 25 yards beat Scott Carson in the 18th minute and crashed against a post. The former England guardian then responded well to block Maguire’s fierce hit from the follow up.
McManaman had stretched Keiren Westwood at his near post before Owls played a role in their opening goal. The game’s first corner was needlessly conceded by Tom Lees but ruthlessly exploited by the visitors. McClean drove in his corner and McCann sent a sharp header flying above Westwood from six yards.
Their joy lasted sixty seconds. Nuhiu got his bearing in a chaotic Wigan area to lay on a side-footed finish from May.
Wigan were getting dangerously on top before May lifted the roof off Hillsborough in the 71st minute. Jeremy Helan drove them forward with a superb run, Maguire supplied the cross and May’s accurate header summed up Wigan’s frustration.
That was far from the end of the drama, which reflected the qualities of both sides.
Owls boss Stuart Gray said: “The result was the main thing, but I got the performance too.
“The harder you work, the luckier you get and we got our break that we didn’t get at Huddersfield.
“We started very well against a good side before going 1-0 down against the run of play. The response I then got from the play- ers was fantastic as we got back into it so quickly.
“We thoroughly deserved the victory. Stevie has gambled to get in front of one of their big defenders and when his header has hit both posts, we were looking at the linesman to give it.
“We defended very well from the front and the crowd, as always, was with us.”