Wednesday night at Ashton Gate, Sheffield Wednesday drew 0-0 with Bristol City to earn their first away point of the season.
Wednesday had endured a difficult few weeks, losing five league games in a row, but they bounced back with a valiant away draw against Bristol City after an impressive 3-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion.
The Robins controlled the majority of the play, and James Beadle had to make several excellent saves to keep out Anis Mehmeti, Joe Williams, and Mark Sykes. He also had to react quickly to stop Marvin Johnson from scoring an own goal.
Max O’Leary easily stopped substitute Michael Smith’s header in the closing moments of the game, which was the Owls’ best opportunity. Despite failing to find a winner, they managed to hang on for a valuable point.
Wednesday’s manager Danny Rohl was happy that his team “did what we had to do” and called it “a good step,” but he also acknowledged that he “will not jump in the air and say what a fantastic game” after the game.
The Owls return to action on Saturday when they travel to the CBS Arena to play Coventry City. Currently ranked 19th in the Championship table, they are one point above the relegation zone.
Though the defensive structure on Wednesday against Bristol City pleased Rohl, the German will surely have been disappointed by the lack of attacking threat and be concerned about the performance of striker Ike Ugbo.
Sheffield Wednesday may have made an expensive Ike Ugbo mistake
Ugbo first joined the Owls on loan from Troyes in January. During the second half of the previous season, he made 19 appearances for the Owls, scoring seven goals and dishing out one assist to help Rohl’s team survive.
Even though Stoke City, Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers, and Sunderland posed serious competition for Ugbo’s signature this summer, Wednesday was able to finalise an agreement in August to permanently return the 26-year-old to Hillsborough for an estimated £3 million.
Though it is understandable why Rohl was eager to re-sign Ugbo given that the Owls would not be a Championship team without his goals from the previous campaign, questions were raised about the transfer fee paid, particularly given owner Dejphon Chansiri’s reluctance to invest in recent years.
Although it is impossible to accuse Chansiri of not supporting Rohl in the transfer market this summer, Ugbo has failed to establish himself since moving back to South Yorkshire full-time, and the owner may be beginning to second-guess allocating such a sizable portion of the budget to the Canada international.
It is concerning for Rohl that Ugbo has only scored once in nine games this season, and that goal came in the 5-1 EFL Cup victory over Grimsby Town in August. In reality, he has not even come close to finding the back of the net in the league.
After an unproductive performance against Bristol City, the striker was replaced in the 73rd minute, and Smith arguably
As was previously mentioned, Smith had the best chance of the game late on when he headed straight at O’Leary. The 32-year-old added an attacking dimension to his team and caused problems for the Robins defence, which had been playing comfortably up to that point.
Smith appeared to be leaving Hillsborough this summer, as League One contenders for promotion Despite the fact that he does have some limitations, Wrexham was reportedly courted by several EFL teams for his services. Given his strong early-season play, it would not be shocking to see him start against Coventry on Saturday.
Even though Ugbo scored just once in the last two months of the previous season, the Owls may have been wary about signing him long-term, but they decided to move forward with the signing anyway, and his bad play has carried over into the current one.
To be fair, Ugbo is not the only Wednesday striker to struggle this season; Josh Windass, Anthony Musaba, Djeidi Gassama, and Olaf Kobacki are all inconsistent performers for the team, so he hasn’t received the support he needs to score goals on a regular basis.
Because of his crucial contribution to the Owls’ survival in the division the previous season, Ugbo has earned the respect of the team’s supporters. However, his goal drought is concerning, and Chansiri will be concerned that he may have blown a sizable transfer fee on the striker.
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