Sheffield Wednesday secured their place in the 2nd round of the F.A. Cup thanks to a 5-2 victory at non-league Southport in front of the ITV cameras on Sunday lunchtime.
Wednesday avoided a cup upset with a generally professional performance although there were a few scares in a frenetic second half.
Gary Teale poked home early on following good work from Clinton Morrison to ease the Owls nerves and they kept their hosts at bay for much of what was a quiet first half. The Sandgrounders failed to test Nicky Weaver in the Wednesday goal in the first 45 minutes and the visitors could well have gone in to half-time with a more comfortable lead. Giles Coke clipped the top of the bar with a side foot strike from the edge of the penalty area and Neil Mellor fired another opportunity just over the bar but the best chance came in the dying moments of the half when the Owls broke following a Southport corner. Teale fed Mellor into space but the striker screwed his shot wide of the target.
Having been instructed to try and impose themselves more on the game, Southport upped the tempo at the start of the second half and levelled matters 7 minutes in when Barratt clipped a fine first-time effort of Weaver. The Owls response was immediate and Mellor restored the lead less than 2 minutes later, tapping home from close range after Morrison’s shot on the turn rebounded off the post.
Southport hit back before the hour mark when substitute McGinn took a long throw that was cleared back to him and the unmarked attacker advanced into the penalty area to score with a low drive.
Just 3 minutes later Wednesday were back in front when the home side failed to clear effectively and Morrison latched on to a Teale pass to round the goalkeeper and score from a tight angle. Within 2 minutes Morrison added his second with a tidy finish following good work from Mellor and O’Connor.
On 64 minutes Tommy Spurr scored the 6th goal in mad 12-mintute 2nd half spell when he was allowed space in the area from a corner kick to control and blast into the roof of the net.
The visitors had finally broken the spirit and belief of their less illustrious opponents and eased to the finish. The draw for the 2nd round of the competition followed the match and the Owls now face a home tie against League Two side Northampton Town.