Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Stoke City: Match reaction

Tom Coates summarises Sheffield Wednesday's win over Stoke City.  Thumbnail: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images

Transcript

00:00Well, it was a case of football being back at Hillsborough as the main focus after a

00:09really long week of speculation regarding Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Roll. Southampton

00:14strongly linked with him in the media throughout the week, Germanside, Hamburg mentioned as

00:19a potential destination as well. The week ended with speculation dying and Roll reaffirming

00:24his commitment to the club, allowing full focus on events at Hillsborough for when Stoke

00:28City were the visitors in S6. There was very little to write home about until Deshaun

00:32Bernard was sent off, a second yellow card for a cynical foul to make up for a mistake.

00:38To be honest, he was fortunate not to have been sent off before that as well. Very similar

00:42instance where he just missed just the flight of the ball and brought his man down. Two

00:47yellow cards, can't really have any argument from a Wednesday point of view. Fans could

00:51have been forgiven for fearing the worst at that point. You're a man down against a side

00:56in Stoke who have some, certainly on purpose, some really good attacking players. But Wednesday

01:01really tore the script up, emerged from the second half with a lot more energy than their

01:05opponents, a lot more zip, a lot more determination. They were a man down but they didn't look

01:10it and that was the most important thing. Went 2-0 up, both goals coming in similar

01:13fashion actually, crossing from the right, smart finish from close range. It was Josh

01:17Windass who got the first from a Jan Valerie cross and the second came with Callum Patterson

01:21scoring from a Shea Charles delivery. There was more drama to come, Tom Cannon giving

01:26a penalty in pretty dubious circumstances, James Beadle stepping up to save the Stoke

01:32striker's shot. Then it was a case of just holding firm and that's exactly what Wednesday

01:36did. A massive, massive three points to head into the festive period with a renewed sense

01:41of optimism after what's been a pretty long week at Hillsborough. There will have been

01:45a lot of Wednesday fans fearful this week and as you can perhaps hear in the background

01:50there's a lot of very happy fans leaving Hillsborough today. Sheffield Wednesday 2, Stoke City 0

01:54at Hillsborough. Read more over at yorkshirepost.co.uk