Fleetwood Town were defeated by Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough in Sky Bet League One on Saturday afternoon.
A first-half goal from Marvin Johnson was the difference between the two sides as Town were defeated by a goal to nil.
The game began at a slow pace, both sides were trying to work each other out. Darren Moore’s Wednesday looked to get the ball out quickly, but Scott Brown’s men looked resolute in defence.
The first quarter-hour of the game only saw a couple of half chances; Promise Omochere saw his effort from the edge of the area blocked by a Wednesday defender, with Michael Smith going through on goal at the other end, but he failed to test Jay Lynch with his effort.
The deadlock was broken in the 16th minute by the home side when Marvin Johnson got on the end of a cross from Josh Windass to stroke the ball home from close range.
There wasn’t too much to say from the first half, chances were few and far between but it’s safe to say the Owls’ first-half goal was the difference. The Cods were trying to play their game, but the playing surfaces had something to say about that.
Town’s defence was called into action with just nine minutes left of the first half. A cut-back by Lee Gregory with a shot by Windass was saved by Lynch, then blocked by Carl Johnston. After that, a further shot by Dominic Iorfa was parried clear by Fleetwood’s number 13.
Sheffield Wednesday started the second half well, piling the pressure on the Cods from the off and Town were struggling to create an opening. Although, Fleetwood did test the Owls’ defence with 61 minutes gone when Dawson had to be alert from a Danny Andrew free kick.
It was a quiet second half, similar to the first half there wasn’t too much in the way of chances, but Town did keep battling but the hosts were good at slowing the game down.
Wednesday did have a spell on the ball where twenty minutes from the end, Town could have been two down, but they defended well to weather a slightly promising-looking Owl’s storm.
Substitute Phoenix Patterson became Fleetwood’s 200th-ever EFL player when he was introduced, and he did his best to give Town a spark in proceedings.
In the final knockings, substitute Ged Garner had a chance to level the game after doing well to get through a barricade of Wednesday defenders, but his shot was stopped by Dawson. Moments later, Andrew and Paddy Lane had chances to equalise but both efforts were high and wide of the target.
Just as the game was winding down, in stoppage time, the Owls were awarded a penalty after a misjudged stretch by Lynch. Late drama prevailed as the penalty was then missed, but it was too late for Town, as it was defeat after a tough battle in South Yorkshire ended 1-0 for the hosts.
Owls XI: Dawson (GK), Palmer (C), Vaulks, Iorfa, Adeniran (Bakinson 85’), Gregory, Windass (Dele-Bashiru 85’), Famewo, Johnson, Smith (Paterson 68’), Hunt.
Unused subs: Stockdale, Brown, Wilks, Shipston.
Cods XI: Lynch (GK), Andrew, Wiredu (Lane 85’), Vela (C), Muskwe (Garner 65’), Warrington (Robertson 78’), Omochere, Hayes (Patterson 65’), Nsiala, Johnston, Earl.
Unused subs: McMullan (GK), Dolan, Holgate.