Wednesday had failed to score in three of their first four league games at Hillsborough this season, so offering my 14-year-old niece a fiver for every goal felt like a fairly safe bet. Five goals later, she was £25 better off. Davis Keillor-Dunn had scored twice and set up another, and the Owls were back in the League One play-off places after a 5–0 win over AFC Wimbledon.
Before kick-off I'd introduced her to that great pre-match tradition, a pork sandwich from Beres. I think she enjoyed the game, although I can't say with complete confidence that it was entirely about the football.
Three goals in seven minutes before the break
Pedersen made changes. Ashley Maynard-Brewer came in for the injured Joe Lumley, Keillor-Dunn earned a start after his impact off the bench at Huddersfield, and Jaden Heskey also came into the side, with Kieran Morrison and Billy Mitchell dropping out. Max Lowe returned to the bench after his time out injured.
Wednesday started on the front foot and moved the ball with real purpose. Keillor-Dunn, playing more centrally, had the first chance after Callum Slattery found him on the break, but he was at a tight angle and Josef Bursik saved. Harry Gray sent a couple of efforts off target as Wednesday pinned Wimbledon back. Maynard-Brewer also had to hold on to a dangerous cross from Sessegnon with the game still goalless.
Approaching the half-hour, the game fell flat. Wednesday were still in control but had lost their edge, and Pedersen admitted afterwards that his side had spent a spell chasing the ball without creating anything. Around 35 minutes, a few of those around us headed down early to beat the half-time bar queue. Thankfully I wasn't one of them, because the next seven minutes turned the game on its head.
The breakthrough came in the 38th minute, when Barry Bannan exchanged passes with Keillor-Dunn and finished from inside the box. A minute later Keillor-Dunn took the ball on the halfway line, broke clear and finished calmly. Gray then drove a third past Bursik in the final minute of the half. Wednesday had been the better side before the opener, but what followed was complete dominance. They went in having taken 10 shots, six of them on target.
Slattery and Keillor-Dunn complete the scoring
Pedersen made no changes at the break. Wednesday took a few minutes to settle again, and Reece James was booked for bringing down a Wimbledon player on the counter. James then provided the fourth in the 56th minute. He found space down the left and whipped in a cross, a defender's header fell short, and Slattery finished first time from close range.
Heskey was booked before Pedersen began rotating just after the hour. Billy Mitchell came on for Bannan, Gabriel Otegbayo replaced Liam Cooper, and Ali Al-Hamadi made his return from injury against his former club, replacing Jamal Lowe. Around the 75-minute mark, Di'Shon Bernard came off to applause after his first Hillsborough outing since injury, and Max Lowe came on to complete his own return. Gray got a standing ovation when he was replaced by Morrison in the closing stages, as the attendance of 30,477 was announced.
Morrison had a shot saved from the edge of the box. In the 85th minute he made a driving run through the Wimbledon defence and set up Keillor-Dunn, who finished low from the left side of the area. Keillor-Dunn then came close to a hat-trick late on. Wednesday finished with 25 shots, 11 of them on target, 58% of the ball and an expected goals figure of 2.64. Bursik still made six saves to keep the score down. Wimbledon managed seven attempts and none on target, with Myles Hippolyte's two efforts off target, either side of half-time, the closest they came.
Heaslip handles a big occasion well
The one contentious moment came when Yan Valery went down under a challenge on the edge of the area. It was hard to judge from the stands, and referee Emily Heaslip initially appeared to point to the spot. She gave a free-kick just outside the box instead. Having seen the footage since, it was tight, but I think the decision ultimately went the right way.
It was a good afternoon's work from Heaslip overall. She played in the Women's Super League 2 with Watford before choosing to concentrate on refereeing, and this was her seventh EFL game and the biggest of her career so far, in front of more than 30,000 at Hillsborough. She kept the game flowing and had a firm grip on it throughout.
Keillor-Dunn the standout
Keillor-Dunn was my man of the match. A back problem had kept the deadline-day loan signing from Wrexham out of the starting XI at Huddersfield. Here he was involved in three of the five goals, and they were his first league goals for the club. Supporters saw it the same way. Keillor-Dunn was the consensus man of the match in the WAWAW player ratings with 9.8, ahead of Bannan and Slattery on 8.2 and Gray on 8.0.
His work without the ball stood out alongside the goals, and Pedersen highlighted the same thing. He told The Star that "he works so hard defensively now" and linked that effort directly to Wednesday's ability to break quickly.
Maynard-Brewer steps in for Lumley
Joe Lumley missed out with a rib injury picked up at Huddersfield a week earlier, and Pedersen put the expected absence at two to three weeks. That means Maynard-Brewer, who was making his first league start, is set to keep his place for Tuesday's trip to Notts County.
The Australian's afternoon was quiet but solid. Apart from that early catch, there was little for him to do, and he dealt with what came his way without fuss. Pedersen said Maynard-Brewer had played a strong game, very strong defensively and solid with the ball.
It was Wednesday's third successive home league clean sheet, and Pedersen was as keen to talk about that as the five goals. Defensive concentration, he said, is the fundamental: Wednesday cannot expect to score five every week, and being strong at the back is what earns points on difficult days.
A different Wednesday from the one at Huddersfield
The win came at the end of an uncomfortable week. A flat first half at Huddersfield followed back-to-back goalless home draws against Wigan and Stockport, and a section of the fanbase had turned its criticism on Pedersen. He said he had kept his trust in the players. He also admitted that the first-half display at Huddersfield wasn't how his side want to play. With more of the injured players back, this was the first week in which Wednesday had "been able to play 11 vs 11 with two strong teams", training at match intensity.
Our preview framed this game around whether Wednesday could break down a set defence at Hillsborough, having failed to score at home in the league since the Bromley rout. Three goals in seven minutes before half-time answered that, at least for one afternoon.
Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson was blunt. He said it was perhaps "one of the only times where I have stood here embarrassed" in his five seasons in charge, and he apologised to the travelling supporters for the manner of the defeat.
The result leaves Wednesday sixth in League One, two points off the top with a game in hand, and unbeaten in nine in all competitions. The run of five games in fifteen days continues at Meadow Lane on Tuesday night.
Match details
Wednesday: Bannan 38', Keillor-Dunn 39', 85', Gray 45', Slattery 56'
Sources: The Wednesday Word (Joe Crann), The Star (Alex Miller, Liam Norcliffe), Sky Sports, Alan Biggs.
Image Credit : Me