Owls frustrated
Wednesday finished frustrated by Yeovil on Saturday as the ten-man visitors took a share of the spoils in S6.
The Owls took the lead midway through the first half through Atdhe Nuhiu before the Somerset side went down to ten men when Byron Webster was dismissed for landing a blow on the grounded Nuhiu.
The Glovers then levelled matters after the break with an impressive Joe Ralls hit but try as they might, Wednesday failed to find another way through a resolute Yeovil backline.
After a bright but incident-free start, the contest sprung into life on ten minutes with chances at either end.
For the Owls, loan recruit Jordan Spence, making his home debut, delivered a fine cross from which Nuhiu glanced a firm header on target and Wayne Hennessey diverted well at the far post.
Then at the other end moments later, James Hayter escaped down the right side of the penalty area and slid beneath Chris Kirkland but Kamil Zayatte was well placed on the line to clear.
Spence repeated the trick with an accurate cross on the 15-minute mark, this time finding the onrushing Michail Antonio only for the midfielder cum striker to head over the crossbar.
But Yeovil continued to give as good as they got and Ralls forced Kirkland into a fine diving save from distance.
The visitors succumbed, though, on 24 minutes as Wednesday took the lead – and in controversial fashion.
The referee’s assistant raised a flag when Antonio and Nuhiu advanced on goal but the man in the middle waved play on.
The flag went down and the Owls took full advantage, with Antonio rolling square for the Austrian striker to notch his maiden goal at Hillsborough.
The Glovers almost hit back in an instant as Andy Williams’ header was bound for the top corner before Kirkland intervened with an acrobatic diversion.
But the Owls matched everything Yeovil could offer in the first half and almost doubled their lead on 36 minutes when Nuhiu’s planted far post header landed in the side netting.
And then Yeovil’s task was made doubly hard with the loss of Webster, who picked up a straight red after tussling with Nuhiu and appearing to land a blow on the towering frontman.
Nuhiu went close immediately after the resumption with a well-placed effort that just evaded the upright – before Yeovil struck out of the blue to level on 64 minutes.
Ralls jinked his way into a shooting position and pulled the trigger from 15 yards out to beat Kirkland.
The Owls poured forward in a bid to seize back the initiative and almost did so on 72 minutes when an Antonio snapshot almost slipped through the fingers of Hennessey, who was relieved to see the ball rebound off the post safely into his grasp.
Still Wednesday pressed while the Glovers countered but neither side could make their possession count and the contest finished all square.
Owls: Kirkland, Spence, Zayatte, Llera, R Johnson, Prutton (Semedo 75), Coke, Helan (Maghoma 80), Antonio, Palmer (J Johnson 63), Nuhiu
Yeovil: Hennessey, Ayling, McAllister, Edwards, Webster, Scaborne, Upson, Hayter (Fontaine 43), Ralls (Moore 90), Grant (Dawson 76), Williams