Wednesday were denied a late equaliser by a poor refereeing decision at Hillsborough today … and that after two defensive slips had gifted Bolton a two-goal lead inside the opening 25 minutes.
Four minutes from time, and with the Owls trailing 2-1, Atdhe Nuhiu saw his fierce drive cannon back off the underside of the crossbar and Stevie May chested home the rebound, only for the linesman to flag May offside … TV pictures later showing that May was clearly onside when Nuhiu shot.
Liam Feeney had put the visitors in front after just two minutes when we lost possession on the edge of our own penalty area and worse followed when Darren Pratley fired home following more indecision at the back on 25 minutes.
Chris Maguire put us back in the game within three minutes, scoring from the spot after both Atdhe Nuhiu and Maguire were felled in the box.
However, with a blizzard sweeping across Hillsborough, we rarely looked like getting back on level terms in the first half and, but for some excellent saves from Keiren Westwood after the interval, we could have found ourselves further behind.
The Owls continued to have plenty of possession, without troubling Lonergan in the Bolton goal, but then launched a late rally that almost brought an equaliser.
Loanee Lewis Baker, on as a late sub, thought he had scored from close range, only to be denied by the leg of Matt Mills and Wednesday suffered another blow when fellow sub Sam Hutchinson – who had been on the pitch for just 15 minutes – was sent off for a second yellow card.
Then came May’s goal, ruled out by ref Graham Scott, and in the fifth minute of added time Claude Dielna fired in a tremendous long-range effort which Lonergan tipped onto the bar, bringing an end to Wednesday’s recent excellent run and signalling yet another disappointing Hillsborough display.