A trip on the Sheffield tram from the ‘Park and Ride’ at Nunnery Square to Hillsborough Park station left me with an early evening walk through the Park.
The park was looking very tidy and smart after a major refurbishment that was needed after the Tramlines Concert of last summer that ‘trashed’ it because of the wet weather. In some areas the newly sown grass still needs a little while to recover and other areas have standing water after our decidedly wet winter. The occasional spots of rain were disappearing but the strong breeze from the tail end of Storm Kathleen felt cold. The car may have said 10 degrees when I parked it but the wind chill made it feel a lot colder than that. The Hillsborough Stadium soon loomed out of the failing light, made darker by the overcast sky.
The stadium now has a capacity of 34835 and still has that big arena feel but with a faded glory feel. I sat well up in the Kop end to the left of the goal not far in front of their famous band with the drum and trumpet. It looked not to have been updated greatly since I last visited to watch Villa some many years ago. The view of the pitch was partially obscured by a stanchion of which there were two at this end and more at the far end. The pitch looked in good condition apart from wear in the corners and goalmouths, not surprising with the 23 league home games plus cup games played by Championship teams. The 28156 crowd were in good voice as the band and the tannoy system played ‘Hi ho Sheffield Wednesday’ just before kick off.
Sheffield Wednesday 2 Norwich City 2
Sheffield Wednesday FC , Hillsborough DStadiu,m, Sheffield, S6 1 SW
Tuesday 9th April 2024, 19.45 Kick Off, Sky Bet Championship
23rd v 6th , The Owls v The Canaries
Sheffield Wednesday; Blue and white vertical striped shirts with Royal Blue Shorts
Norwich City FC; Yellow shirts with some thin horizontal green stripes, Green Shorts.
Norwich started playing a high line and competed hard for the ball. This immediately put pressure on Sheffield Wednesday’s tippy-tappy football out of defence, they found it hard to clear and the lost balls put the home side continually in defence. It was no surprise that on 11 minutes Norwich went ahead when a poor clearance was pounced on, pushed out to the left, swung back to the far post where Josh Sargent swung his leg horizontally to place the ball in the goal for the lead. Only five minutes later Beadle in goal for Wednesday made another short clearance that was lost and Borja Saintz ran through to double Norwich’s score.
The home crowds early support led to boos when Sheffield Wednesday again tried short clearances which were intercepted. The crowds anger seeped through to their team and the long ball was adopted which did have the effect that they were no longer under constant attack although not creating any clear chances. Norwich did have other attempts on goal and should have been further ahead by the break having squandered their chances. The fans booed Wednesday off at half time and I reflected on the slow, static performance of the home back four trying to play a system that didn’t suit them.
Wednesday came out for the second half having made four changes including their number 5 Diaby, who had struggled with what looked like an injury in the first 45 minutes. They now continued to clear balls as far forward as possible and the fans responded with renewed hope. Norwich though were still playing well and Beadle saved well with his outstretched leg as Jack Stacey bore down on the near post after 10 minutes.
The home side started to get a momentum with much more energy and enthusiasm, putting pressure on Norwich with some immense long throws from both sides of the pitch. They should have recovered one goal with 18 minutes left but Dawson made a point blank save. Sheffield’s attacks forced a series of corners and one produced a goal when Will Vaulk’s corner on the right was headed into the net by Michael Ihiekwe in a very crowded penalty area. The home support noise levels went up a notch and Wednesday piled forward and from a corner on 85 minutes, 7 minutes after their goal, time from the left, was hit long past the far post where Michael Smith levelled the score with an unopposed header.
The home support backed their team for the last 5 minutes and 6 of added time but a winner was not to be had. Norwich will have rued their missed chances in the first half and Wednesday should reflect that their trying to play short balls out of defence should be put on ice till the end of the season. They still need points to squeeze their way out of the relegation zone which they have inhabited all season. Norwich will be annoyed that they lost ground in their promotion hopes when at one time in the game it was there for the taking.
In the end a great game and atmosphere and a long walk from the ground to Shalesmoor tram stop before I was able to get on a packed tram back to the centre. The walk in reality did me good.
It was good to see chips on the menu even though a whirring card machine made me feel I was most probably paying for food and drink for the whole Kop. The chips were very very hot even down to the bottom of the tub and had very little grease. Some were crispy and others limp but there was a strange spicy taste to them that meant I only scored them 58.
payonthegate 