Match Report: Sheffield Wednesday 1 - Fulham 1

Well, it wasn't that bad. After going down 1-0, Matt Smith's mental crossbar deflection-shot meant that Fulham could escape with one vital point against Sheffield Wednesday earlier today.

The game started off with some good chemistry as Matt Smith flicked a pass onto McCormack, who passed to Sean Kavanagh, his cross going too far and being cleared to safety. Chris Maguire shot a half volley too wide for Sheffield. Another effort came in the 20th minute from McCormack, who took a shot from 40 yards out after noticing that Kieren Westwood was off his line, though the attempt went well wide. Tim Hoogland sent a massive through ball to McCormack, but unofrtunately Claude Dielna managed to beat him to the ball.

There were a couple of delays during the game, the first occuring when Wednesday midfielder Liam Palmer needed treatement for an injury, and ended up leaving the game on a stretcher because of it, being replaced by Marnick Vermijl. Another occured in the 42nd minute when Will Keane came off with the team's second injury of the day, with Stevie May coming on to replace him.

A free kick before injury time led to another Fulham chance when Matt Smith headed towards the net, but Tom Lees managed to get it out before new Cottagers signee Michael Turner could get to it. At the other end of the pitch, Konstantinos Stafylidis cleared a flick from May near the goal line, but he managed to gain possession of the ball (and miss) again, hitting his shot, assisted by Atdhe Nuhiu, weakly to let Bettinelli catch it. Maguire had the last chance of the first half but his cross was cleared.

Things looked a lot better in the second half, though the Owls had the first goal of the game when a corner by Lewis McGugan was cleared out by the Fulham defence, though the clearance found its way back to McGugan, whose cross met May's header which shot into the far corner of the net. Jazz Richards managed to clear a scrambled ball in the box, while Vermijl was booked for a foul on McCormack.

The Owls forced Bettinelli into action twice on the hour mark when Vermijl's attempt from distance was parried over the net, while the resulting corner met Tom Lees, who headed straight towards the Cottagers goalie. Hoogland had a decent drive toward goal but it was defended well by Dielna. A double change for fulham came in the next minute, with Seko Fofana and Cauley Woodrow coming on for Kavanagh and Hoogland. Matt Smith saved the day with his equaliser in the 74th minute, when Tunniclife was downed in the box but managed to get the ball to Smith, whose shot bounced off the crossbar and landed in the net. This was also Smith's second goal for Fulham!

Fulham started to attack more in the final minutes of the game, with McCormack's cross forcing Westwood into action, the Owls keeper punching away the ball, while Turner caught the first Fulham booking for his foul on McGugan. Smith looked set to make it 2-1, when he caught hold of a through ball by Scott Parker, but Westwood was there to dive at him, while Stafylidis screwed up the rebound, launching it over the bar.

McCormack had a free kick shoot over the net, Smith's shot was saved and the Scot had a shot blocked in what was the final moments of the game.

We can only pray it gets better. Fulham face Leeds at home (oh man) on Wednesday. COYW!