Wednesday staged a remarkable second-half comeback to take a point from three-down at the interval at Middlesbrough this afternoon.
We were totally outplayed for most of the first half and were lucky not to be trailing by more after an abject display … only to be back on level terms within 16 minutes of the restart in a crazy opening spell to the second period.
The point keeps us in ninth place and four points away from the play-off positions, with another tough test to come at Preston on Sunday lunchtime.
Our problems began after just five minutes at the Riverside, the unmarked Ben Doak heading home at the far post after weak defending down our right.
Ten minutes later it was 2-0, Boro’s good passing movement setting up Finn Azaz and he had time and space to sidefoot past Beadle from 15 yards.
Marvin Johnson’s sloppy back pass then went straight to Emmanuel Latte Lath but his shot came back off the post, although the Boro attacker was also ruled offside.
However, it was 3-0 on the half-hour when Azaz converted from close range after we failed to clear and at this stage it looked like being a question of damage limitation for the Owls.
Wednesday’s first real threat came on 35 minutes when Yan Valery flicked on a corner at the near post but Josh Windass sent his diving header wide at the far when he should have hit the target and then Johnson was just off target from the edge of the box.
Danny Rohl brought on Svante Ingelsson and Nathaniel Chalobah at half time, switching to a 4-1-4-1 formation to bolster the midfield, and the tactical change reaped remarkable rewards with Wednesday amazingly back to 3-3 just after the hour.
The fightback began only two minutes into the second period, Shea Charles picking out Ingelsson and his shot from 12 yards deflected off Anfernee Dijksteel into the net.
Seven minutes later it was 3-2 when Ingelsson and Djeidi Gassama combined down our left and when the latter pulled the ball back Windass was on hand to knock home from close-in at the near post.
More drama followed almost immediately when home defender Rav van den Berg was sent off for a second yellow card after a foul on Charles.
And, with Wednesday very much in the ascendancy, we were almost on level terms soon afterwards when keeper Sol Brynn pulled off an excellent one-handed save from Ingelsson’s snapshot, Dominic Iorfa sending the rebound over the bar from six yards out.
Brynn was injured making the initial save, being replaced by Tom Glover on the hour, and the sub keeper was beaten within a minute of coming on, Yan Valery sending a near post flicked header into the far corner of the net from Charles’ flag kick, sparking great scenes amongst the sellout Wednesday contingent.
Not surprisingly, there was a period of comparable calm before we went close to snatching a late winner.
First, Gassama broke clear from way out and only a last-ditch tackle by Latte Lath came to the rescue before both Bannan and Charles curled efforts just wide.
Beadle, Valery (Valentin 76), Iorfa, Otegbayo (Ingelsson 46), M Lowe, Johnson, S. Charles, Bannan, Gassama (Smith 87), Windass (Ugbo 87), J. Lowe (Chalobah 46). Unused subs: P. Charles, Paterson, McNeill, Kobacki.