15/04/2000  Sheffield Wednesday 1 Chelsea 0

Sheffield Wednesday continued to prove that where there's 
hope, there's life and the chance of staging a footballing 
miracle.

For Wednesday, it was the first time this season they had 
won two successive matches in the Premier League, and the 
seemingly impossible dream of survival refuses to die.

Victory, however, owed as much to Chelsea's lethargy as it 
did to Wednesday's tenacious spirit which had been given a 
renewed sense of purpose following their win at Wimbledon on 
Wednesday.

As performances go, before what is undoubtedly their 
biggest game of the season against Barcelona on Tuesday, then 
Chelsea could not have given a more depressing rendition.

Their failure to raise themselves against the 
relegation-haunted Owls was patently evident, particularly 
during a dire first half, as they clearly seemed to have one 
eye on their heavyweight Champions League quarter-final.

If there were any spies from the Catalan giants sitting in 
the Hillsborough stands looking on, then they must have 
thought they were at the wrong match.

Compared to Chelsea's devastating performance in their 3-1 
Stamford Bridge destruction of Barca 10 days ago, this display 
must have undoubtedly worried Vialli.

True, he did rest the likes of Frank Leboeuf, Dennis Wise, 
Gianfranco Zola, Albert Ferrer and Jon Harley, but the talent 
that took to the pitch was still world class.

Admittedly, the Owls have more to play for given their 
plight at the foot of the table and they deserved the three 
points, but Chelsea's quality should ultimately have 
prevailed.

Two weeks ago, on his side's last visit to Yorkshire, 
Vialli had witnessed another pitiful showing against Leeds at 
Elland Road. On that occasion, however, Chelsea just did 
enough to scrape a 1-0 victory against a United team who have 
since suffered an alarming side in the last few weeks.

Such a defeat is also another hammer blow to Chelsea's 
hopes of at least finishing in the Premiership's top three, 
and with it another crack at the Champions League.

At this rate Chelsea will now have to lift the trophy in 
May if they are to compete on Europe's biggest stage next 
season.

As for Wednesday, playing in the domestic top flight is 
still within their grasp as another priceless win means they 
are now just five points adrift of safety and with momentum on 
their side.

Their application and attitude towards such a mountainous 
task at least shone through in the opening 45 minutes, even if 
the closest they came to breaking the deadlock was when Gilles 
De Bilde fired into the sidenetting from an acute angle.

But then five minutes after the restart the game finally 
came to life, and in controversial fashion after De Bilde had 
been sent clear by strike partner Andy Booth.

De Bilde's pace gave him the edge on Chelsea centre-back 
and former Owls team-mate Emerson Thome, who was left on the 
seat of his shorts after a delightful drag-back by the Belgian 
forward.

It left him with keeper Ed De Goey to beat, but as he 
rounded the giant Dutchman he was tripped in the process, 
which led to referee Paul Durkin immediately pointing to the 
spot.

As last man, De Goey should have been sent off, but Durkin 
only produced a yellow to a chorus of boos around Hillsborough 
- which continued to ring out every time the keeper touched 
the ball.

De Goey could do nothing about Wim Jonk's penalty as he 
dived the wrong way, giving his fellow countryman his first 
goal since November 21.

After De Goey had cleanly plucked a goalbound Booth header 
out of the air in the 57th minute, the most hair-raising few 
moments of the game then followed for the Owls.

George Weah first struck the base of the post with a 
riveting 18-yarder, before then hitting the crossbar moments 
later after keeper Kevin Pressman had lost a Peter Atherton 
pass-back.

Pressman quickly redeemed himself with a flying save low to 
his left, using his fingertips to push away a searing Gustavo 
Poyet shot after he was set up by Marcel Desailly and Chris 
Sutton.

That was as it good as it got for Chelsea as Wednesday then 
saw out the final 25 minutes without too much alarm on a day 
when the Hillsborough disaster was remembered.

On the 11th anniversary of the tragedy, fans from both 
sides paid their respects to the memory of the 96 men, women 
and children who died during the FA Cup semi-final between 
Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Several bouquets of flowers adorned the memorial outside 
the stadium, while a Liverpool shirt and scarf lay across the 
top of the stone monument.