Wednesday face a trip to Fleetwood for an FA Cup fourth round replay after being held 1-1 in the first tie at Hillsborough this afternoon.
We dominated the match but only managed one shot on target from 15 attempts and, although we looked far more dangerous when we brought bringing on Barry Bannan, George Byers and Lee Gregory just after the hour, Wednesday couldn’t find that winning goal against a Fleetwood side who frustrated the vast majority of the 15,000-plus crowd with their spoiling and time-wasting tactics throughout.
On the plus-side, it means the Owls will be in the fifth round cup draw on Monday evening but the downside is we now face a midweek replay a week on Tuesday and sandwiched between those two division one matches against promotion rivals Plymouth and Ipswich.
Our main threats of the first half today came from Mallik Wilks when he headed wide early on following a good link-up between Liam Palmer and Jack Hunt and then cut inside but saw his shot deflected wide.
Callum Paterson headed clear from under our crossbar in a rare Fleetwood attack and then an angled Josh Windass free kick caused panic in the visitors’ defence but they survived.
However, the visitors began the second half with more purpose and Brendan Wiredu headed over from six yards before they went ahead on 52 minutes, Promise Omochere losing his marker and sending a close-range diving header past Cameron Dawson in their first effort on target.
Wilks missed a good opportunity to draw us level again when he sent a 12-yard snapshot over the bar and then Darren Moore made his triple substitution with Bannan, Byers and Gregory coming on after 61 minutes.
Their introduction saw an immediate improvement in our approach work and passing and we were level 10 minutes later. Marvin Johnson delivered an excellent low cross from the left and when Wilks and defender Josh Earl challenged to make contact, the ball flew into the roof of the net with Wilks claiming the last touch off his boot but the goal being officially credited to the Fleetwood defender.
We might easily have been ahead soon afterwards, Lee Gregory heading narrowly over at the near post from Wilks’ left-wing cross and, with normal time running out, Bannan saw an effort blocked from inside the box after a fine run down the right by Palmer.
The fourth official then signalled nine minutes of added time, reflecting Fleetwood’s delaying tactics, and we were so close to a winner when Gregory flashed a header across goal from another Johnson cross but the ball bounced off the top of the bar with keeper Jay Lynch beaten.
Now we face that replay and a fourth game against Fleetwood in six weeks to see who goes through to the FA Cup fifth round.
Dawson, Hunt (Bannan 61), Palmer, Iorfa, Famewo (Flint 90+6), Johnson, Vaulks (Byers 61), Adeniran (Gregory 61), Windass, Wilks (Smith 87), Paterson. Unused subs: Stockdale, Brown, Dele-Bashiru, Bakinson.