Hatters beaten in cup replay
Sheffield Wednesday ended a run of 4 games without a win on Tuesday evening thanks to a 1-0 win against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road in the F.A. Cup 3rd round replay.
The two sides drew 0-0 at Hillsborough on 5th January in a game of few opportunities and League One promotion hopefuls would have fancied their chances of an upset in the replay on home turf having not lost at Kenilworth Road this season.
Wednesday caretaker boss Steve Agnew made 3 changes to the side that put in an abject display in a 3-0 defeat at Hull City at the weekend, including bringing in Atdhe Nuhiu to partner Steven Fletcher in attack.
Luton were without striker Danny Hylton due to suspension after his red card in a 1-1 draw at Sunderland on Saturday and Mick Harford continued to take caretaker charge of the team with Nathan Jones having departed to manage Stoke City last week.
The game was played at a batter pace with far more goalmouth action than the first tie. Wednesday went close in the first half through Reach and Boyd with Fletcher hitting the post while the home side had plenty of corners but failed to test Dawson in the Owls goal until late in the first half when he made a couple of smart saves and the Hatters almost took the lead in bizarre fashion when Lees hit a long back-pass past his own keeper and only narrowly wide of the goal.
The second half started with a bang as the Owls took the lead in little more than a minute. Palmer crossed for Fletcher, the Scottish striker's blocked effort on goal fell to Nuhiu who fired home with the aid of a deflection to give the visitors the lead.
Having got on top Wednesday looked to put the tie to bed with Reach forcing a good save from Hatters keeper Shea but as the game entered the closing stages with just one goal separating the two sides it was no surprise to see Luton pile on the pressure. Dawson saved an effort from Potts and Collins hit the post for the home side but the Owls were able to keep the League One top scorers at bay and book their place in the 4th round.
Wednesday's prize for overcoming Luton is a trip to Premier League side Chelsea. The Owls will play at Stamford Bridge on the weekend on Sunday 27th January.