Luhukay happy with narrow Wednesday win under high pressure

Posted Wednesday, November 28, 2018 by PA

Sheffield Wednesday manager Jos Luhukay praised his side’s second-half performance, after they beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at Hillsborough.

The first half of the game was lacklustre from both sides, with chances in the opening 45 minutes few and far between.

The home side were winless at their Hillsborough stadium in seven games before the game, with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Derby County on Saturday.

Bolton, meanwhile, have now seen their winless run extended to nine games in the league, with the Trotters netting just twice in that period.

Wednesday skipper Tom Lees (57) got the only goal of the game, heading home a Barry Bannan corner.

The deficit gave Bolton a short burst of energy, but they could not breach what was a tight Wednesday defence.

The home side could even have added to their lead late on, with good chances falling to Adam Reach, Lucas Joao and Fernando Forestieri, which they failed to take,

Luhukay said: “I think the team is very happy now. I think in the first half, we find not the way in the game and the players were very nervous. They make a lot of mistakes when we had the ball.

“We find not the good combinations to come to good chances or to scoring a goal. I think the pressure was high today and you see it in the first half on a lot of players in my team.

“But in the second half we started good. In the first ten minutes we make good goal a set piece from Tom Lees and I think in the second half we had a little bit more of the ball and we came to some chances.

“You see today you have not so much clear chances, but one goal today was enough to win.”

Bolton manager Phil Parkinson said: “I thought first half we controlled a lot of the game. At the start of the second half, I thought Forestieri coming on gave the crowd a lift and them a huge lift.

“We didn’t start as quickly as we needed to to respond to that, and that start to the second half has cost us the game. One moment has separated the two teams.

“We had gone to chase it towards the end and become a bit disjointed. We had some good half chances and got in some very good positions.

“On the night you could sense there was a lack of confidence from Sheffield Wednesday. I felt the game was there for the taking tonight.

“Our goalkeeper has hardly touched the ball or had a save to make.”