Sheffield United 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Owls suffer earliest relegation in EFL history | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday were relegated earlier than any other side in English Football League history courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to rivals Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Early goals from Patrick Bamford and Harrison Burrows took control early on, before Manchester City loanee Kalvin Philipps saw red and Wednesday pulled one back through Charlie McNeil’s second half strike.

It wouldn’t be enough to at best postpone their inevitable drop to League One, after a series of point deductions left them on -7 points prior to the tie, while United rise to 14th in the table.

As It Happened

Sheffield Wednesday made three changes to their starting XI for this afternoon’s game following a 2-1 defeat to Millwall last time out. The Owls brought in Seny Dieng, Liam Cooper and Joel Ndala to replace Murphy Cooper, Cole McGhee and Olaf Kobacki.

Meanwhile, The Blades made just two changes with Tom Cannon and Djibril Soumaré replaced by Callum O’Hare and Sydie Peck.

Sheffield United got off to the dream start as Bamford tucked home to give his side the lead inside two minutes, off the back of a lovely assist from Gustavo Hamer.

Wednesday looked for an instant reply but Liam Palmer saw his strike fly over the crossbar.

Japhet Tanganga nearly doubled the hosts lead but his effort didn’t challenge the Wednesday keeper, minutes later Harrison Burrows flashed a volley wide of the goal and into The Kop behind.

Jaden Heskey picked up the first yellow card of the afternoon with 15 minutes played following a foul on Andre Brooks. United continued to push for a second as O’Hare struck the post from inside the penalty box.

They succeeded in doubling their advantage a few moments later with Burrows firing past Dieng and into the top corner, after a multitude of defensive errors from Wednesday, all but confirming their relegation to League One

Svante Ingelsson then received the game’s second booking after a particularly bad challenge on O’Hare.

The 2,300 Wednesdayites in attendance had their first moment of excitement just before the half hour mark when their side won the first corner of the game, however it was well dealt with by the United defence.

Shortly after, derby day tempers inevitably flared with players from both sides involved in a shoving match.

Wednesday won themselves another corner 10 minutes later, which saw Charlie McNeil send a half-volley well over the bar and into the away end.

Despite early struggles, the away side really grew into the game as the half went on, managing to keep their cross-city rivals at bay for large periods.

The first 45 finished with the score at 2-0 thanks to those early goals from the hosts. The start of the second period saw Kalvin Phillips receive a red card for a late challenge on Ingelsson where he followed through into the Swedish midfielder’s knee with his studs.

The resultant free-kick saw Wednesday register another shot, however this one was blocked inside the area before it could challenge Michael Cooper in between the posts.

However, just seconds later McNeill popped up with a superb goal as he hooked a left-footed effort into the bottom corner to give the visitors a lifeline.

The Blades responded by making the first change of the day as Ollie Arblaster was introduced in favour of Hamer.

Wednesday continued to apply the pressure on their rivals, winning themselves a string of corners, with set-pieces remaining their main point of threat.

Cooper later picked up a yellow card after he fouled Bamford in a wide area, however the hosts couldn’t make anything of the free-kick.

United made two more changes just after the hour mark with Bamford and Brooks withdrawn for Ki-jana Hoover and Tyrese Campbell.

The cards continued to be shown with McNeil being the receiver this time after a challenge on O’Hare.

Sheffield United won their first corner of the game in the 72nd minute, with Peck’s delivery being punched away by Dieng.

Ndala broke through The Blades defence and forced a good save but was ruled offside by the linesman. A break in play followed as Cooper and Adaramola went down with muscle injuries.

Ike Ugbo was introduced following this as he took the place of Cooper for the last ten minutes of regular time. Gabriel Otegbayo saw yellow minutes later for a foul on Peck, Wednesday’s fifth of the afternoon.

More changes followed as Femi Seriki and O’Hare were replaced by Leo Hjelde and Soumaré.

The hosts first booking of the day went to Arblaster with five minutes left on the clock following a foul on Jamal Lowe.

Jerry Yates and Adaramola’s afternoon then came to an end as they were replaced by Devlan Moses and Sean Fusire for the final minutes of the match.

Otegbayo fouled Campbell to bring a United break to a close, but consequentially saw a second yellow card meaning The Owls were also down to ten men as we entered seven minutes of additional time.

Wednesday then made their final change as their goalscorer, McNeill, was brought off for McGhee.

Campbell broke into the Wednesday box as he looked to wrap up a derby day win for The Blades, but he was denied by a superb save from Dieng who got down quickly to his right-hand side to keep Wednesday alive.

Moses was shown the eighth card of the game, this time just a yellow one, moments later for a foul on Soumaré.

Dieng was called into action once again in the 95th minute as he kept out a close-range strike from Arblaster.

The full-time whistle blew shortly after, confirming a 2-1 win for Sheffield United and an inevitable relegation to the third tier for Sheffield Wednesday, the earliest in EFL history.