Sheffield Wednesday made it four wins from four at Hillsborough this season thanks to a brace from James O’Connor. The midfielders’ double strike was enough to see off the challenge of Notts County in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy as the home side overcame their League One counterparts 2-1 on Wednesday evening.
Competition rules meant that Alan Irvine was unable to make as many changes to his side as perhaps he would have liked and as a result four changes were made to the side that thrashed Hartlepool at the weekend. Full-backs Jon Otsemobor and Daniel Jones came in at the expense of Lewis Buxton and Tommy Spurr and there were also starts for O’Connor and Morrison with Coke and Mellor dropping out of the first eleven.
Wednesday wasted no time in picking up where they left off on Saturday as they took the lead inside two minutes. Teale picked out Sedgwick at the back post and the wide midfielder found O’Connor who tapped home with the goal at his mercy. Just over ten minutes later and it was O’Connor who doubled his own and Wednesday’s tally on the night, this time drilling home after a cross from Otsemobor.
At this stage the Owls were playing some really good football and were opening up the opposition at will but County also looked dangerous when in possession and grabbed a route back into the game on twenty-three minutes when influential midfielder Ben Davies beat Nicky Weaver with a curling free-kick from the corner of the penalty box following a foul on Jon Harley.
Despite the setback Wednesday continued to play well and created further chances for Tudgay twice and Morrison. However, as the half drew towards a close the Owls became irked by some debatable refereeing decisions with Potter picking up a needless booking. Having seemingly picked up a knock Chris Sedgwick was replaced by Tommy Miller just before the break and County almost grabbed a scantly deserved equaliser as Mike Edwards powered a header over the bar from a Davies corner.
The visitors made a more solid start to the second period without really threatening an equaliser and chances were much harder to come by for both teams than they were in the first half.
Tudgay almost sealed the result for the home side but his header from a Jones free-kick stayed out off the underside of the crossbar. Notts County had fought back from three goals down to earn a draw against Bournemouth at the weekend and almost got back on level terms in this encounter when Weaver had to be alert to turn away a well struck shot from substitute Westcarr.
The Magpies threw players forward in search of an equaliser late on but were almost caught out when O’Connor won the ball near half way and went in on goal to complete his hat-trick only to bend an effort wide in time added on.
The miss did not prove costly and the Owls booked their place in the second round in front of a healthy crowd for the Football League Trophy of over 10,500.