Written by Max
Ground #37
Hillsborough – Sheffield Wednesday FC
Tuesday 19th April 2022 – EFL League 1
Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Crewe Alexandra
Attendance: 22,566
Entry: £22
Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest clubs in the world having been formed way back in 1867. The unique name ‘Wednesday’ came from the fact that workers would get a half day off work on Wednesday’s and therefore would be able to play for the sports club in the afternoon. The club have played at Hillsborough itself since 1899 and the ground still has many traditional features which really take you back in time whilst also remaining a functional large stadium in modern times.
Today’s game saw Wednesday come up against my club, the already relegated, Crewe Alexandra. But the fact we had nothing to play for didn’t stop this being one of the games I had most looked forward to this season and relegation just made this even more of a must visit game with us not having played at Hillsborough since 2006. With a new Interim management team in charge we really didn’t know what to expect from this game so went into it with very low expectations, but hoped to enjoy visiting the ground either way!
The game started with The Owls very much on top. Former England youth international Saido Berahino missed an open goal from 6 yards out, and a few fantastic saves from Crewe Keeper Dave Richards kept it 0-0, but it seemed like it would be a very long night! The hosts were dominating as expected and Barry Bannan was spraying 40 yard passes all over the pitch. How is it fair that players like this are in league 1!!! As the half went on though The Alex grew into it and, although not causing too much of a threat in the attacking third, looked solid at the back which is something we haven’t been able to say too much this season! At half time we had been under pressure but managed to get into the break 0-0!
The second half continued as the first had ended. The Owls were looking dangerous but Crewe were defending well and putting their bodies on the line. Sadly though just before the hour mark a tackle from winger Scott Kashkett proved exactly why he is not a defender and the ref pointed to the spot! 33 year old Lee Gregory stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way. 1-0
We feared the worst at this point thinking the floodgates may open but in fact the opposite happened. Crewe continued to defend resolutely and even managed to spring a few counter attacks as the hosts began to get sloppy with possession. Even Barry Bannan began to feel the pressure losing the ball on multiple occasions and the noisy home crowd suddenly became a little quiet as the nerves began to creep in. Sadly from our point of view though we just didn’t have the quality to create anything to trouble the Wednesday keeper and they managed to see out the game 1-0 and add 3 valuable points to their promotion push.
In the end it was yet another defeat for the Relegated reds, but this was the first time in a while that we along with the majority of the small away following clapped the players off. A gritty and committed performance and to only lose to a play off hunting side due to a stupid penalty is a vast improvement to what we have been seeing for the majority of this season. The big question is can we play like that again on Saturday and get some consistency to end the season.
Now to rate our night at Hillsborough:
Location: 5/10
Hillsborough Stadium is located around 3 miles North West of Sheffield City Centre in a suburb called Owlerton (Hence the clubs nickname The Owls). As with most traditional grounds it is located slap bang in the middle of a residential area which is fantastic for any locals, but for a club that gets such large attendances this creates quite an issue with traffic and parking on matchdays.
There is a tram which runs from the city centre and Meadowhall shopping centre to the ground which we would have made the most of had the game been played on the bank holiday Monday as was originally planned. Due to it now being on a Tuesday night though meant we drove to the game and this ended up meaning it took us over an hour to get out of Sheffield after the game.
Kit: 4/10
The owls play in Blue and White stripes with black socks and shorts. This years kit is very plain and the sponsor is so hard to decipher that we actually didn’t realise they had one until googling the shirt before writing this blog! Some people may say that this is a good thing as it looks like a traditional kit from the past, but to me it just seemed a little plain.
Facilities: 2/10
Of course Hillsborough is a very old ground, and that isn’t made any more obvious than when you are in the ‘concourse’ of the away end. I use the word concourse in the loosest possible way as all you actually get is a hatch in the back of the stand. There is no cover and not a lot of space. Luckily for us the weather was decent today but I can imagine queuing for a pie in the pouring rain wouldn’t be too much fun!
Look: 10/10
Hillsborough is one of very few proper traditional football grounds left in this country. Just under 40,000 seats spread between 4 unique stands. The place oozes character, from the large one tiered kop to the huge grandstand with the traditional Archibald Leitch Triangle design built into the roof.
The large roofs on all 4 stands meant any noise echoed around the ground and created a fantastic atmosphere especially at the start when it seemed like all 22 thousand home fans were singing ‘Hi Ho Sheffield Wednesday’. Talking of loud, the pre match and half time playlist was being pumped out of some huge speakers in the roof. I’ve never heard another ground that had it so loud. It really got the pre match atmosphere going!
As away fans for today’s match we were housed in the lower tier of the Leppings Lane end. We debated lowering the score of this section due to a couple of things. Terrible leg room, obscured view due to 2 huge pillars holding up the roof and the fact that the steps were so shallow meaning it was difficult to see over fans even a couple of rows in front! In the end though we felt we had to overlook all of this for the simple fact that this is a proper traditional football ground, and sadly there aren’t too many of those left nowadays!
Food and Drink: 4/10
As we got into the ground we headed straight for the small hatch in the wall as we were both starving! As we peered over at the counter from the back of the queue we were really worried as it seemed like there was no hot food and no alcohol, oh no!! As we got to the front and prepared ourselves for a bag of crisps to share, we were overjoyed to hear that they were in fact serving pies which the bloke grabbed from under the counter. We went for Chicken and Ham as it’s an option you don’t often see at the football. Unlike the usual puff pastry Pukka Pies, these were made using shortcrust pastry but sadly we found it to be pretty chewy and the filling itself wasn’t the best. We would normally praise a club for not using pukka pies like pretty much everywhere else, but sadly today we actually think we would have preferred them!
Our worst fears came true as there was no alcohol available from the counter so we were stuck with a fanta lemon instead, although at half time we did hear some other Crewe fans talking about getting a beer so perhaps there was another counter selling beers?? If so we are gutted!
TOTAL SCORE 25/50
Hillsborough is one of the grounds that I have always wanted to visit, and it was fantastic to be able to do it with the club I love, even if we were already relegated! With The Alex playing in League 2 next season who knows how long it will be before we play in a ground like this in front of such a big crowd again, so it was great to be able to experience it.
Sheffield Wednesday are a huge club and the fact that over 22,000 fans turned up to watch a League 1 game against Crewe on a Tuesday night proves this. The atmosphere was great throughout and it was a great experience other than the result! It will be interesting to watch on and see if they can make it back to the championship for next season which is the least the club and ground deserve!
This is our first ground reviewed in the Football League for a while, and if you’d like to see which other grounds we have visited so far as well as where this places The Owls in our Leaderboard click here: The 92
If you’d like to see the Non League grounds we have visited click here: NON LEAGUE
Emma’s Ground Guide 