Owls (1) 3 Liverpool (1) 1

Att 32,???

Wednesday: 
Pressman; Nilsson, Walker(c), Palmer, Worthington; Waddle, Hyde, 
Jones, Bart-Williams(Poric); Jemson(Coleman 79), Bright;  subs: Key;

Liverpool:
Grobbelaar; Nicol (Walters), Wright, Ruddock, Harkeness; Jones, Molby, 
Matteo (Rush), Barnes; Fowler, Clough; 

What a game, and what a referee.  Before I go any further I've got to say that
the ref was the worst I've seen for a long while - they must do something
to make sure the refs are consistent.  He let so much foul play go in the 
opening 40 minutes without a single booking it was unbelievable, together
with a few dubious decisions which had the Kop convinced he was a scouser
(not that that take much to do though).  Anyway, on with the game which was
the best I've seen so far this season.

We won the toss again (Des is getting used to it now) and kicked towards the 
West stand.  Early on it was clear that Liverpool weren't there to take any
prisoners so to speak.  Harkeness caught Waddle late off the ball (I think,
I didn't see it but the crowd sure did) leaving him on the floor.  Two
minutes later he brought him down again quite badly, no booking, and then
slid in for a challenge with studs facing and Waddle only just got out of the
way in time.  Nothing from the referee.

Early on we got a corner on the North-West terrace side of the pitch.  Waddle
put the ball over and for once Bart-Williams got the flick on at the near
post.  How that didn't go in I don't know but Liverpool managed to scramble
it clear.

Barnes was playing well for Liverpool and surprisingly easily shook off the
attentions of Hyde.  He's lost weight (something which can't be said of
Molby).  Wednesday were dominant in the opening half hour but didn't have
a goal to show for it.  The closest was a left foot shot from Ryan Jones
which was screaming towards the top corner before Grobbelaar somehow got a
hand to it to turn it over the bar.

The build up play was good, and the pass of the half came from Jemson when
he played the ball from inside the Wednesday half on the left to Waddle on
the right wing, all alone and in acres of space.  Unforntunately after getting
into the box Waddle then delayed too long and didn't get a cross over.  Bright
was something of a culprit this half too.  More than once he had the ball and 
fluffed the layoff to Jemson when he could've shot.  The best chance was with
the ball on his left foot and he tried to get it on his right.

The lead wasn't far away though.  Bart-man (?) was brought down just left
of centre about 5 yards outside the box and Wednesday were awarded a free kick.
Bart-man took the kick and it went straight into the wall and broke loose to
the left of the goal.  Worthington got the ball and sold Wright a dummy, 
before crossing the ball low and hard across goal, it deflecting off Ruddock
(he who gave away the free kick in the first place) into the net.  It was
no more than Wednesday deserved.

Then with their first real attack of the match Liverpool equalized about 7
minutes later totally against the run of play (not that you'd think this if
you read the Sunday Times).  Fowler was out through on the edge of the box
and tucked the ball away neatly just inside the far post.  The defence was
well and truly caught out.  Fowler then endeared himslef to the Kop by
jumping over the advertising hoardings and celebrating about 2 inches in
front of the Kop front row.  Not a clever thing to do really.  He was to get
his comeuppance though.

In an off the ball incident with Jones and Fowler challenging for the ball 
Jones appeared to follow through on Fowler (again I didn't see tha actual
challenge but Jones was over him and Fowler was writhing around on the floor
looming like he'd been kicked/stamped in the chest area to me).  Jones was
very lucky to get away with it, although Liverpool were up to their old tricks
with Molby trying to tell the referee what to do when the decision would go in
Liverpool's favour.

Perhaps the most astonishing refereeing decision of the first half was when 
the ref awarded Liverpool a free kick midway inside the Wednesday half and
they took it quickly and proceeded to lose the ball.  Worthington was coming
away with it when the ref blew up for Liverpool to re-take the kick as he
wasn't ready first time !  Unbelievable.

Just before the interval the ref eventually booked someone - Molby for a
foul, and then he booked Carlton for the most innocuous challenge.  The
attacker went up for a header with Palmer and ended up on the floor, as
often happens, but this time a yellow card.  He'll be missing games again
soon if he keeps on getting booked.

We were extremely lucky not to go in 2-1 down as just before the break Barnes
tried to chip Pressman, and he just got fingertips to the chip which 
rebounded off the underside of the bar and out, to be cleared.  That would 
have been a total travesty.  Still, 1-1 at half time wasn't too bad, but you
did feel that Wednesday should be winning this game comfortably.

The teams came out unchanged after half time.  Wednesday continued to play 
good football.  Bright was holding the ball up well and the midfield
working well.  The second goal came from a ball played up to the right wing,
Jemson got a good flick on to Waddle who was in acres of space again.  He ran 
in and crossed the ball along the ground for Wright to get there ahead of 
Grobbelaar, only to turn it into his own goal, but only just.  From behind the
goal evertything seemed to go into slow motion as Wright made contact and then
fell over as the ball trickled towards the goal line.  If he could've got up
he could've cleared it, but he didn't.

Some might say two own goals were lucky (like the blade fan on Hallam) but
they weren't and were well deserved rewards.  Bart-Williams came off to
replace by Poric in what was a defensive move to counter Walters who`d just
come on on the left.  Waddle went to the left wing and Poric played on the
right.

Brucie was having fun with the Kop in the second half.  When Ruddock blocked
a shot with his body/arm Bruce went at great lengths to show the Kop that
it was Ruddock's chest and not his arm that the ball hit.  I'm not so sure.
Then he made a fine save, just touching a shot over the bar only for the ref
to give a goal kick !!  All Brucie could do when he was barracked was point 
at the linesman and shrug his shoulders as it wasn't his fault that the
officials were crap - and he was right. 

With ten minutes to go Trevor did something very brave, which paid off but was
still brave.  He pulled Jemson off and put Coleman on at the back (something
the Sunday Times journalist missed, probably buggered off as Liverpool were
losing), playing three across the back with Worthington and Nilsson pushing 
up to join the three midfield men, and Waddle went up front.

The third goal was a Brucie special.  For some reason he ran out to the half-
way line when Wednesday were threatening to break.  Poric played the ball to
Bright who calmly beat Grobbelaar to the header, knocked the ball past him
and ran towards an open goal with the Liverpool defence in hot pursuit.  Even
I could've scored from that one.  3-1 and that was the game sewn up.  Trev's
defensive ploy worked, but if we hadn't got that goal I would've been worried.
But now I'm moaning when I should be glad that we totally outplayed Liverpool.

Bring on the Villa !