Wednesday paid for a lack of clinical finishing at one end and gave away a sloppy equaliser at the other as our push for automatic promotion took a jolt at Lincoln today in a frustrating and disappointing 1-1 draw.
The Owls took an early lead through Lee Gregory, then totally dominated the rest of the first half but failed to turn good approach play into further goals. We then conceded that soft effort within a minute of the restart and will look back on it as two points very much dropped.
With second-placed Ipswich winning at home to Derby last night, we now trail the Tractor Boys by three points in third place and a further two points behind leaders Plymouth after their 2-2 draw at Bristol Rovers.
Gregory’s goal came on seven minutes when home keeper Carl Rushworth sent a free kick straight to him 25 yards from goal, the striker then turning past a defender and firing past Rushworth as he tried to retrieve his error.
Gregory had already tested Rushworth with a header and, although Ben House forced David Stockdale into a diving save following a mistake by Ben Heneghan, Wednesday continued to dominate and Heneghan went close at the other end when his header struck a post.
However, all that superiority and possession counted for nothing within two minutes of the restart, Danny Mandriou taking advantage of poor defending to shoot past Stockdale.
Wednesday hit straight back and should have been back in front within three minutes. Gregory set up Barry Bannan from a flick on by Michael Smith but the skipper miscued his shot from eight yards out and failed to scramble home at the second attempt.
Josh Windass then failed to capitalise on a couple of chances around the hour-mark while the end-of-match statistics, showing we had 67 per cent possession and coupled with just three shots on target from 17 attempts, summed up an afternoon when we failed to turn such dominance into further goals and three points.
Stockdale, Palmer, Ihiekwe, Heneghan (Dele-Bashiru 71), McGuinness, Johnson, Vaulks (Byers 58), Bannan, Windass (Wilks 85), Gregory, Smith. Unused subs: Dawson, Iorfa, Bakinson, Paterson.