Michele Di Piedi was Sheffield Wednesday's match-winner with an 87th minute
goal just a minute after being sent on by manager Peter Shreeves.
It was an astute move by Shreeves who has revitalised Sheffield Wednesday's
fortunes since taking over as caretaker-manager.
The confidence in the Sheffield side was obvious throughout the game and
explains why the Owls have now lost only one of their last eight games.
This is in sharp contrast to Birmingham who have suffered a major slump since
their Worthington Cup final defeat at the hands of Liverpool in Cardiff.
They have now picked up only one point from four matches and their hopes of
automatic promotion are slipping away at an alarming rate.
Manager Trevor Francis was obviously very disappointed with the latest result.
He has admittedly been handicapped by a heavy injury list but there were few
excuses for this latest defeat in an often ill-tempered affair which Wednesday
clinched with two opportunist goals.
The Owls were quite happy to counterattack following some heavy Birmingham
pressure. The experience and skill of their two midfielders, Trond Soltvedt and
Carlton Palmer, was evident as they often cut out many dangerous Birmingham
attacks.
Behind them veteran skipper Des Walker never put a foot wrong, while
goalkeeper Kevin Pressman also had an outstanding game with his late second half
save from Geoff Horsfield a feature of his performance.
Everything began to go wrong for Birmingham in the 24th minute when on-loan
Jamie Pollock conceded a needless free-kick just inside his own half.
Gerald Sibon took the kick and found Soltvedt a few yards ahead of him.
Soltvedt quickly found the unmarked Gilles De Bilde who cleverly turned two
Birmingham defenders and scored only his second goal of the season with a low
angled shot from the left which hit the post before going into the net.
Birmingham's determination to get back on level terms was always evident and
in the 59th minute their luck appeared to change when Stan Lazaridis, who
tormented the Owls defence, was brought down on the edge of the area by Ashley
Westwood.
Darren Purse took the spot kick only to see Pressman, diving to his left, make
a fine save. The ball rebounded into the path of Horsfield who gleefully notched
the equaliser.
Birmingham then made an all out attempt to grab the winner, but it was
Sheffield Wednesday who had the last laugh when Efan Ekoku slipped a short pass
down the middle to Di Piedi who raced through unchallenged to slip a low shot
into the corner of the net to the right of goalkeeper Ian Bennett.
Teams:
Birmingham: Bennett, Gill, Purse, Holdsworth, Grainger,
Lazaridis, Pollock (Hyde 73), Hughes, Eaden (Bass 85),
Adebola (Marcelo 46), Horsfield.
Subs Not Used: Poole, Burrows.
Booked: Gill, Holdsworth.
Goals: Horsfield 60.
Sheff Wed: Pressman, Bromby, Walker, Westwood,
Hendon (Lescott 18), Harkness, Soltvedt, Palmer, Sibon,
De Bilde (Di Piedi 86), Ekoku.
Subs Not Used: Hamshaw, Stringer, Crane.
Booked: Hendon.
Goals: De Bilde 24, Di Piedi 87.
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