Struggling Owls earn first point of the season at Elland Road - Mail 2/9/23
Leeds United 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday earned their first point of the season
at Leeds United
Leeds dominated possession but remain without a win at
Elland Road this season
Daniel Farke's side are continuing to struggle to adapt to
the Championship
By ROSS HEPPENSTALL
It has taken them five attempts, but Sheffield Wednesday's
Championship campaign is finally up and running as a hard-earned point left
Yorkshire rivals Leeds United frustrated.
The Owls were promoted from League One in May but not much
has gone right since.
Darren Moore left in acrimonious circumstances and successor
Xisco Munoz had seen his team arrive at Elland Road as the only club in the EFL
yet to pick up a point this season.
In the end, though, Wednesday were decent value in the end
for a result which saw them stop the rot and ease the mounting pressure on
Munoz.
'We've got a point, we've got a point,' sang the traveling
supporters after a first clean sheet under Munoz which lifted the Owls off the
foot of the table and above Middlesbrough on points difference.
Spaniard Munoz said: 'The most important thing for me was
the level of performance from the players.
'We had talked about clean sheets and I think every day the
team is getting better.
'Now we have a break for two weeks – we need to improve a
lot of things but this is one point in a stadium which is very difficult to
play.
'I'm very happy for the players because they gave two
hundred percent.'
Daniel Farke's Leeds were largely dominant but could not
make it pay and the visitors grew in confidence as the match wore on, with both
goalkeepers making fine saves.
Club-record signing Georginio Rutter, 21, had scored his
first goal in last week's thrilling 4-3 win at Ipswich but he misfired against
the Owls, with Devis Vasquez denying him with a superb first-half stop.
Farke said: 'I think performance-wise, he proved at Ipswich
that he's in really good shape.
'I was a striker as well and sometimes you find it difficult
to use your chances. You can't really explain.
'It feels like Georginio is in this moment. The key is not
to overthink.'
This Yorkshire derby capped an eventful week for Leeds which
saw them win 4-3 at Ipswich, get dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two
Salford and lose Luis Sinisterra to Bournemouth.
Home fans aired an anti-Sinisterra chant shortly after the
kick-off but Leeds fashioned a superb opening in the 17th minute.
Crysencio Summerville played a one-two with Rutter on the
edge of the 18-yard box before lashing a powerful right-foot shot over the
crossbar.
Leeds continued to probe and in the 39th minute Summerville
played in Rutter, but a superb save from Vasquez saw him repel the Frenchman's
shot.
Moments later Wilfried Gnonto fired wastefully into the side
netting but Farke's men upped the tempo after the break and were almost soon
rewarded.
Jamie Shackleton showed some neat footwork to engineer the
space to curl a right-foot shot narrowly over the crossbar.
Summerville then played a one-two with Rutter before drawing
another smart stop from Vasquez.
Moments later, Leeds skipper Luke Ayling greeted Gnonto's
left-wing cross with a header which failed to hit the target.
At the other end, Wednesday went close when Josh Windass was
played in before Illan Meslier raced off his line to block the striker's
close-range shot.
The visitors grew in confidence and in the 72nd minute
Callum Paterson blazed wildly over the crossbar from close range.