rab howell was the last sheffield united player to play for england.
rab howell was the last sheffield united player to play for england.
last sheffield united player to play for england?
rab howell
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the first week of april saw new sheffield wednesday manager dave jones win the football league one manager of the month award, while michail antonio just missed out on player of the month award. 7 april saw another early kick-off with sheffield wednesday playing west yorkshire rivals huddersfield town who were six points behind sheffield wednesday in fourth place and with a game in hand – meaning if they won wednesday and their game in hand they would be above the owls on goal difference. while sheffield wednesday of course were still trying to catch sheffield united and every game was seen as a must win game. after a goalless first half sheffield wednesday seemed to be much of the better team, which was surprising considering the importance of the game for both teams, as well as both teams being next to each other in the table. it was a much closer contest in relation to goals, as the last meeting at hillsborough stadium finished an amazing 4–4. on the fifty-fourth minute spaniard miguel llera struck a free-kick round the wall and into the bottom corner, scoring his first goal for wednesday and giving them a well deserved lead. then nile ranger found himself through on goal eighteen minutes later and having missed a 'sitter' and hitting the bar earlier, he showed composure to double the owls' lead and the game finished 0–2. sheffield wednesday went home happy in knowledge of the importance of the game and the fact that they won comfortably compared to what was expected to be a very tough game. sheffield united played later on in the day and again won as they edged out a 2–1 victory over bournemouth. two days later on the bank holiday monday the owls played their third consecutive early kick-off in a row as they played back at home and were live on sky sports against oldham athletic. sheffield wednesday had so far had similar results against the same clubs as their rivals sheffield united, such as both losing at the likes of carlisle united, charlton athletic, and walsall, and both winning against teams such as bournemouth, bury etc. and with the knowledge of sheffield united losing to oldham athletic earlier on in the season at home, wednesday needed to ensure that this did not happen here. gary madine scored just before half-time and then keith treacy's two crosses with each foot secured victory for the owls as miguel llera and ryan lowe headed home from them. sheffield united again played later, this time a day after sheffield wednesday and they won bottom of the league rochdale. with both rivals in such good form as they aim for automatic promotion it was likely to be who 'slipped' up first. and unfortunately for sheffield wednesday it was them as they drew with colchester united, who had drawn their last four games at home. this game finished 1–1 after an early goal from ian henderson from a poor mistake by michail antonio and miguel llera equalised in the second half but the owls were unable to pull off those three vital points and drew meaning with sheffield united winning they were four points behind their rivals with three games to go – so although it had once before in the season looked like sheffield united had secured the automatic promotion spot, it looked near enough confirmed this time as they had such a large goal difference as well. during the week though sheffield united star striker and player ched evans was in court for the r v evans and mcdonald criminal prosecution case. ched evans on the friday was found guilty of rape and was sentenced to five years in jail, meaning sheffield united were without their best player of the season, who had led them to victory in so many games and scored over thirty goals throughout the season. however, with sheffield united in such good form, there was still little doubts about the outcome of the season. the next day sheffield wednesday faced carlisle united who were fighting for a play-off spot and was a must win game for them as well. while sheffield united were away to in-form milton keynes dons who lay in fifth place. chris lines's right-footed shot rolled into the bottom corner in the twenty-sixth minute of the match to put sheffield wednesday 1 goal up. sheffield united however had conceded in their game to make things as they stood wednesday one point behind their city rivals with two games to go. as sheffield united were still trailing, wednesday were cruelly punished for not finishing their chances within the game as james berrett equalised to send carlisle united into jubilation. as the sheffield united game had finished wednesday still had several minutes of stoppage time to play. and their deserved goal came as michail antonio who had injured his right foot and right shoulder during the game, continued to play and dribbled round one player and finished in a tight corner to send the sheffield wednesday fans absolutely crazy as antonio's winning goal came in the ninety-fifth minute of the game. this goal still gave wednesday a chance as they were now one point behind sheffield united thanks to that late, late goal. with both sheffield clubs playing teams who were likely to be relegated by the last game of the season, the second-to-last games of the season were seen to most as the decider in the automatic promotion race. it was sheffield wednesday who kicked off first at three o'clock on the saturday of the last weekend of april. they faced another difficult challenge as brentford who they were playing away, were desperate for maximum points as they looked to get into the final play-off place. in the first-half it was brentford who were the better side as they missed one 'sitter' and hit the bar from four-yards out and should have been in front. however, a free-kick saw keith treacy pick out the bottom corner as the goalkeeper was not covering his near post and was caught unaware of that possibility. wednesday went into the break ahead, although they had scored against the run of play. the second half was similar to the first but wednesday were playing better, but brentford still had the better of the play. and then in the sixty-second minute mark beevers conceded a penalty and was lucky not to be sent off after already having a yellow card. clayton donaldson scored and sheffield wednesday still being on the back foot, were looking unlikely to win even though they so desperately had to. then up-jumped miguel llera to head the ball up into the net four minutes later to put wednesday back in front. after several misses from brentford, a one-on-one and a great save from stephen bywater, sheffield wednesday went home with a 2–1 win. sheffield united had a late kick-off and was live on sky sports and was being viewed by all supporters of both rival clubs. they played stevenage who were in an incredible run of form going into the game, as they pushed for the final play-off place themselves. although, sheffield united started brightly they were unable to convert any chances and was missing their star player ched evans. and then joy for stevenage and sheffield wednesday fans alike as joel byrom scored and put stevenage one nil up at half-time. two minutes into the second half and stevenage scored again, sending the owls and stevenage wild again. sheffield united had to win to stay above sheffield wednesday and pulled a goal back and then matthew lowton equalised to make it 2–2 with five minutes to go plus stoppage time. it was the most tense and heart-racing moments of both sheffield united and sheffield wednesday as they knew one goal for the blades in those final moments could be the decisive goal in the automatic promotion race. a fabulous save from chris day in the final minutes was able to stop sheffield united and they could only manage to draw. meaning sheffield wednesday after such an amazing season, for fans of both clubs and the neutral, were now second and in the driving seat for automatic promotion.
2011–12 sheffield wednesday f.c. season