Match preview - Owls v Coventry

18 December 2020

Wednesday and Coventry will meet at Hillsborough for the first time since October 2009 this weekend in the Championship.

The Sky Blues have hit a good run of form since the last international break with no defeats in the last eight, including three wins.

They will arrive at Hillsborough 18th in the Championship. The Sky Blues have won one of nine games on their travels so far this season.

Wednesday’s winless run extended to nine games following the 2-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest in midweek.

MATCH DETAILS

- Date: Saturday 19 December
- Kick-off, 3.00pm
- Championship
- Hillsborough

OFFICIALS

Referee – John Brooks
Assistant Referee – Akil Howson
Assistant Referee – Daniel Leach
Fourth Official – Simon Mather

WATCH LIVE

The game is live on iFollow, with multi-angle coverage, replays and commentary from Rob O’Neill and John Pearson.

CLICK HERE to purchase your match pass.

Season Ticket holders must apply before 11.00am on Saturday to guarantee access for the Coventry fixture.

TEAM NEWS

SWFC: Wednesday will be without Dominic Iorfa, who is set for a long spell out of action with an Achilles injury.

Joost van Aken and Julian Börner are injury doubts.

Massimo Luongo is also unlikely to be involved, while Moses Odubajo is suspended.

Keiren Westwood is back in full training after recovering from a groin injury and will be pushing for a place in the starting XI.

Pulis is hopeful that Tom Lees (thigh) will be available after picking up the injury at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.

Coventry City: Striker Matty Godden has missed the last nine games through a foot injury but has returned to training and is in contention for the trip to Hillsborough.

Sky Blues captain Liam Kelly will be out for around three months with a groin injury, while Gus Hamer is suspended.

PRE-MATCH

Owls boss Tony Pulis: “We have got to go into it and be as positive as we can. Our possession stats are good but it’s what you do with it that’s important, being positive in certain areas and maybe we’re not taking up the opportunity to cross or shoot. We’ve got to do more of that.”

Coventry boss Mark Robins: “I think that people just go ‘this is another game’, but you have to look at the accumulation of the games and what the players are doing is remarkable. We still haven’t had everyone available to us this season, whether that will happen or not remains to be seen, that’s really got to be the goal. We’ve got to keep focused on the next game and then after this one we can have a bit of a breather before we go into the Christmas period.”

FORM GUIDE

Wednesday: DLLLL
Coventry: DWDWD

LAST FIVE v Coventry

Coventry 1-1 Owls – 27 March 2010 – Championship
Owls 2-0 Coventry – 17 October 2009 – Championship
Coventry 2-0 Owls – 28 December 2008 – Championship
Owls 0-1 Coventry – 22 November 2008 – Championship
Owls 1-1 Coventry – 1 April 2008 – Championship

Match Previews

Match Reports

Report: Wednesday 1-0 Coventry

19 December 2020

Tom Lees netted his first goal of the season and Wednesday secured a much-needed win over Coventry at Hillsborough.

The 1-0 victory was also the first under Tony Pulis as his side climbed from the foot of the Championship table.

The performance was improved too, the points deserved following recent frustrations, and although the Sky Blues did have their moments, Wednesday were good value overall.

City threatened first and fashioned two chances inside six minutes. Keiren Westwood smartly saved Maxine Biamou’s near post hit and Leo Ostigard might have done better with a clear header from the resulting corner.

The Owls regrouped and went on to boss possession, Barry Bannan and Adam Reach were off target from distance before Ben Sheaf produced a timely block to thwart Josh Windass.

The contest was end to end, with the first goal crucial and Wednesday seemed the more likely. Pulis' side had the final opportunity of the opening period four minutes before the whistle when the ball sat invitingly for Windass 12 yards out but the striker’s shot was skewed.

The Owls started the second half in charge and Ben Wilson dived low to keep out a low Windass drive from range.

Coventry countered in an instant with Sam McAllum’s teasing cross cum shot forcing Westwood into evasive action before Liam Palmer hooked an Ostigard header off the line moments later.

The breakthrough came on 67 minutes and went the way of Wednesday. Barry Bannan floated a hanging free kick into the danger zone and Lees was on hand to nod powerfully across Wilson and in.

Westwood kept out substitute Amadou Bakayoko straight after the restart as Coventry sought an instant route back. Lees denied the same player with a well-timed block and it was all the visitors as the clock ticked down.

But the Owls broke out of their own half with two minutes to go when Windass had the chance to put the game to bed one on one only for Wilson to come good when it mattered.

Back came City as they pressed for a leveller but the Owls managed the remainder of the game with resolute discipline to provide some festive cheer.

Wednesday: Westwood, Palmer, Lees, Dunkley, Reach, Bannan (van Aken 83), Pelupessy, Shaw (Rhodes 64), Harris, Paterson, Windass (Kachunga 90)