‘Ridiculous’: EFL pundit makes intriguing call on controversial Sheffield Wednesday goal against Portsmouth
Pompey fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
It was the right call to allow Sheffield Wednesday to score their second goal against Pompey on Saturday.
That’s the clear verdict of EFL YouTuber Callum Fowler, who believes it would’ve been ‘ridiculous’ to chalk off George Brown’s strike due to Conor Shaughnessy’s injury.
The key incident came just five minutes into the second half, with the central defender chasing down the ball in his own half to restart the Blues’ attack.
However, the 28-year-old pulled up injured after tearing his hamstring, which allowed the Wednesday frontman to capitalise and score past Ben Killip to net on his Championship debut as well as crucially doubling the Owls’ advantage.
It’s a goal which has split open, with Sky Sports raising the question whether it should have stood or not.
Verdict on Sheffield Wednesday goal against Pompey
And speaking on his popular EFL Review show, Fowler is adamant Brown ‘did the right thing’ given the current circumstances Wednesday are in.
He said: ‘What I will say is this guy (George Brown) is apparently a very old-school number nine. He’s quite a big fella, big, strong and fast.
‘The manner of his goal was ridiculous. Shaughnessy was running back just picking up a long-ball from Wednesday to start a Pompey attack again and he just pulled up. Definitely done something to his hamstring because he couldn’t even walk to get to the ball.
‘From there, Brown has done what ever footballer should do. Anybody that thinks he should put the ball out is ridiculous.
‘You’ve got a chance to go through on goal, your club in crisis and you need the points desperately. He did the right thing 100 per cent.’
Sheffield Wednesday deserved win over Pompey
Pompey were clear favourite’s heading into the contest, with Henrik Pedersen’s side one of two sides yet to pick up maximum points in the Championship this term.
The Blues had started the campaign strongly and returned to PO4 after the highs of their south-coast derby stalemate against Southampton.
But the Owls put in an impressive display, while there were a number of poor individual performances in Mousinho’s side. And Fowler has praised Wednesday for capitalising on Pompey’s disappointing showing
‘To be fair, I know I predicted Portsmouth to win 2-0, but I did say it wouldn’t have surprised me at all if Wednesday had won it.
‘I think they do better when there is zero expectation at all. Nobody would’ve said a Wednesday win.
‘Portsmouth are extremely good at home, they’ve had a really good start, a win would’ve put them in the top six. Everyone looked at this and would’ve said a Portsmouth win.
‘In the first six games, they’ve got a draw away to Wrexham, who are good at home, and Portsmouth away, who are good at home.
‘Not overly surprised really, which is daft to say. And Ben Killip was man of the match which was even more ridiculous. Wednesday are still going to go down but it's a really impressive win.’