admin‘Great for football’ – Gary Rowett comments on Sheffield Wednesday situation as Oxford claim Hillsborough win
Oxford United beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on Saturday in front of a much-improved Hillsborough crowd.
Oxford United boss Gary Rowett has praised his team’s ability to deal with the Sheffield Wednesday crowd to come away with a 2-1 victory on Saturday afternoon.
One day after entering administration, a season-high 27,261 supporters crammed into Hillborough, following long-running protests against Dejphon Chansiri. However, in the first half at least, the extra support did little to help, with the Owls 2-0 down by the break thanks to goals from Cameron Brannagan and Will Lankshear.
Wednesday were much better in the second half, scoring in the 53rd minute through Sean Fusire and piling pressure onto the visitors but ultimately being unable to find an equaliser.
Bumper Hillsborough crowd ‘great for football’, says Rowett
Rowett believes such big numbers returning to Hillsborough is ‘great news for football’ and undoubtedly made his side’s job more difficult.
However, the Oxford boss also praised his side’s ability to hold out for the victory – doing so having taken just one point and one goal from their last three Championship away matches.
“Yeah, really pleased. There were two schools of thought when we heard the news yesterday, that we’re now going to be playing Sheffield Wednesday with a full Hillsborough and a full crowd,” Rowett told reporters after the match.
“For football, that’s great news. Nobody wants to come here in front of a few fans, I think it’s great that they got behind them. But I think that made our task a little bit harder because I don’t care what place they are in the league or what points they’re on, it’s not an easy place to come or an easy task. We knew it would give them a lift.”
On Oxford’s gritty performance against the Owls, Rowett continued: “I thought in the first half, we managed the crowd really well. In truth, we should’ve had a few more goals. There’s a blatant penalty, possibly a second one, not quite sure how that’s not given. We’ve not had a penalty now for about 18 months, it’s quite bizarre really. Thankfully, we scored from Cameron [Brannagan]’s free-kick straight afterwards.
“A couple of other moments. Of course, we had Will [Lankshear]’s goal, but then we had two or three moments. Nik Prelec’s in and he slips over, Filip Krastev’s in and he slips over. So I was a little bit disappointed to come in at half-time only 2-0 up, and it was really just if we could manage the game.
“They scored when Cameron was off the pitch, a poor goal to concede. But at that point, you just know what’s going to happen. You know the pressure is on, you know they’re going to pen you in. Barry Bannan is so good at just finding space and making it difficult, dictating the game.
“I thought we defended the box pretty well, but that’s kind of all we did really, apart from two chances near the end where we should go and kill the game off with one more goal but didn’t.”
What next for Sheffield Wednesday?
Saturday’s defeat means Wednesday remain on -6 points, with one win, three draws and eight defeats from 12 Championship outings so far. At home, the Owls have picked up just a single point.
Up next is a difficult away trip to West Bromwich Albion, before Wednesday host fellow strugglers Norwich in a match where they’ll look to finally treat supporters to a home win.
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