[themaclad]

Sheffield Wednesday
29/12/2024 12.30 pm Deepdale

When the game kicks off it will be exactly 7hrs 30 mins shy of a year since the atrocity of Rebecca Welch took charge of her only game at the cathedral of Football excellence.

https://www.swfc.co.uk/

OFFICIALS

Referee: Sunny Singh Gill
Assistant Referee: Mark Stevens
Assistant Referee: Matthew Jones
Fourth Official: Benjamin Speedie

Manager same as last time until Albion come calling, we might get him again on Wednesday

LAST TIME OUT





MACS MYSTIC FORM GUIDE

PNE 11 WED 11

IN FORM



CHAMPO STUFF

[themaclad]

The Fitness Test

PNE will likely be without Robbie Brady for this fixture, with the Irishman having recently suffered two cracked ribs.

Andrew Hughes completed 90 minutes on Boxing Day seemingly without issue, after missing three matches through injury, so he'll be expected to go again on Sunday.

There are no fresh injury concerns for Paul Heckingbottom to contend with.

The Owls

It hasn’t been too long since North End drew 1-1 at Hillsborough, in a game where Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Röhl felt his side were fortunate to take a point.

Since then, the Owls have picked up victories against Oxford United and Stoke City, and they also came from three goals down on Boxing Day to draw away from home at Middlesbrough.

That point left them ninth at the halfway stage of the campaign and four points outside of the Play-Off spots.

MACS VIEW

The Chrimbo period continues apace another one of those infernal 12.30 boot offs, fast becoming the nonsense of TV games, had some sympathy for Swansea when they also had a 12.30 at Hull.
Anyway I digress, should have beaten the Owls three weeks ago, played pretty well that day day, we are in and out at the moment, tend to play better against teams higher in the league.
Bannan didn't play in that game will be in tomorrow although the good old Christmas bug is apparently running rampant in the visiting camp at the moment.
Could be a decent game and as it's been misty for the last few days if you are coming across the top remember stick to the moors and keep off the path

[St Charles Owl]

The last one was a good game and also a 12.30 kickoff. We definitely missed Bannan that day but you should have been clear by half time, but as we have just shown at Boro we do tend to play better if we go behind!!!

[themaclad]

Preston North End 3 Riis 2 Greenwood Sheffield Wednesday 1 Windass



Attendance: 19,950 (5,694 Sheffield Wednesday fans).

Referee: Mr S Singh Gill.

Two wins on the bounce ending what has been a dire footballing year on a high, a lot has happened in the 12 months since the Owls last visit, managed finally to get rid of fantastic although still think he should have gone at the end of last season but gone he has.
Been a bit of a slog uner Hecky but on the evidence of today's win over Wednesday we are slowly getting there, still some areas of concerns, defending set pieces and our inability to clear the ball and some of our midfiekd who seem to lack the ability to tackle.
This win wasn't as stright forward as it seems, we were under the cosh for the majority of the first half, they were quicker to the ball and like most teams could actually pass, they started well but lost a bit of momentum when the liner did his hamstring after a couple of minutes.
Bannan who didn't play in the first game makes a massive difference to them, quality player covers every inch of the pitch, also have a bit of time for Windass as well.
They got down either flank caused us problems but final ball let them down, we did also defend well getting bodies in the way when needed.
Bowler started to get us going down the right hand side and we started to like a threat albeit not a great one. Took the lead against the run of play, Greenwood ball to back stick, Whatmough headed across goal and Riis bounced the ball under Beadle. Still in the lead at the break.
Second half very entertaining end to end stuff Owls again came out firing, again lengthy deal stop their momentum, started to get some joy around their box, tremendous effort by Greenwood hit the bar, looked like scoring at any time then Wednesday scored as per usual starte when we ballsed up an attack and in less than 15 seconds Windass from 20 yards buries it bottom right corner.
Parity didn't last long Bowler apparently fouled in the box, might have been harsh(not seen it back) Greenwood did the rest.
Windass glorious chance tolevel, shot hit Woodman, they were also stopped by some great defending both by Storey and Whatmough.
Sealed the win late on, two bites of the cherry for Riis again not a thing of beauty but you take them all day long.
We are now inn a decent position to challenge Brizzle City in the race to finish 13th.
A word on the referee, slightest touch gave a free kick, didn't let the game flow and was as bad as his dad


Heck

Paul Heckingbottom described the victory over Sheffield Wednesday as his favourite win yet as North End boss.

The Lilywhites finished 2024 by defeating the Owls 3-1 at Deepdale, courtesy of a brace from Emil Riis and a Sam Greenwood penalty, which sealed back-to-back Championship victories for the first time this season.

Hecky said: “I loved it. It's my favourite win so far, that. There were moments of quality, but a real will to win and energy and aggression about us, particularly in the second half.

“I thought we needed to be better at that. Everyone, every player brought what they do to the team in terms of their attributes with the ball. As a collective then, the boys who came on as well, the tenacity and aggression to make sure we got over the line was brilliant.”

Sheffield Wednesday arrived at Deepdale sat just outside of the top six and in good form on the road.

The North End boss admitted he didn’t take the way the Owls play into account too much in their pre-match preparation, due to the in-game changes Danny Röhl can make to his side.



As it turned out, PNE got it spot on and the manager was pleased to see the performance rewarded with all three points, which is something which hasn’t been the case at times this season.

Hecky said: “I wasn’t panicking too much. There's a law of averages suggesting that if you continue performing and being the better team, you'll get more wins.

“It's more the will of the team and the spirit of the team, which we massively showed today, because you can force yourself over the line which I felt we've done in these last two games.

“It was more will than skill in the last game against Hull. Today was a lot of will and a lot of skill.”

There were four changes made from that Boxing Day victory against the Tigers, with scorer of two Riis one of those to come in.


The manager praised the Dane’s aggression and positioning to get himself the brace, and he’s also happy to have a plethora of options available to make changes, especially during such a busy festive period.

Hecky said: “It helps us in the short space of time to keep real good energy. I want everyone to be a part of it.

“It’s been a constant determination to try and get more quality at the top of the pitch because in all the games we've had, I feel that's one thing for everything we've been doing really, really well, we could have had so many more goals, so many more points, so many more attempts on goal. We're constantly searching for that improvement.”

DAN

Danny Röhl called for the Owls to cut out ‘easy mistakes’ following his side’s 3-1 defeat to Preston at Deepdale.

Wednesday’s final game of 2024 ended in disappointment, and the German manager is keen to stamp out errors in his backline.

Röhl said: “We have to stop our easy mistakes. We gifted them too much.

“I think the number of goals we concede at the second post, we have to step up.

“It’s about man-marking, looking at the ball, keeping the opponent with you and defending as a group, this is what we must improve.



“We need to defend better and cut easy mistakes, then you have a chance to win games.

“We had a few moments, but the final action in the box, you need to be better to take something.”

Wednesday kick off 2025 with a home clash against Derby on New Year’s Day, and the Owls boss will be looking for his squad to be ready to cope with another short turnaround in games.

He added: “Now the period comes when you have injuries, you try to rotate.

“We need everyone in the next two games and we will be ready, and we will try again and hopefully get the result.

“There’s always a chance when you can go again three days later, we need a better performance.”

[themaclad]