Sheffield Wednesday suffered their first defeat in seven matches on Tuesday evening, losing 3-1 at the hands of Carlisle in the Northern area semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
After a slow start to the game with few chances for either side early on at a sub-freezing Brunton Park the home side took the lead just short of the half-hour mark when the Owls failed to deal with a cross from Madine and his fellow front man Francois Zoko was left in space to head past Weaver from close range.
The visitors were dealt a further blow just before half-time when Mellor went down after a clash with Michalik and was subsequently stretchered off. The striker was replaced by Giles Coke with Jermaine Johnson moving to a more advanced position.
Wednesday almost benefitted from the enforced change at the start of the second half when home goalkeeper Collin made a mess of a back-pass. Johnson took the ball on and seemed destined to score into the unguarded goal but appeared to be pulled down from behind by the Carlisle keeper. The referee denied the Owls what appeared to be a nailed on penalty and though the Jamaican winger forced Collin into a scrabbling save shortly after the visitors spent most of the second half on the back foot from then on.
Weaver denied Marshall with a smart save on the hour mark but from the resulting corner Michalik volleyed home after a flick-on. The home side then threatened to run riot as Weaver saved well from Zoko, Madine and Marshall but the third goal finally arrived with 20 minutes to go as Marshall beat Weaver with a header following more good work from Madine.
Purse headed Wednesday’s goal from a Miller corner on 84 minutes but it was nothing more than a consolation as the home side deservedly booked their place in the Northern area final where they will face either Huddersfield or Tranmere Rovers.