3 things we clearly learnt about Sheffield Wednesday after 1-1 draw v Cambridge | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday rescued a point last night against Cambridge United as Fisayo Dele-Bashiru struck late for a 1-1 draw.

Darren Moore’s side fell behind to a George Williams header in the first-half and had to wait an hour before they found their equaliser.

That came on 80 minutes as Dele-Bashiru stormed forwards and flashed a shot across the impressive Dimitar Mitov.

The result leaves Wednesday ninth in the League One table and still two points adrift of the play-off places at this early stage of the season.

Here, we look at a couple of things we learned following Wednesday’s latest stalemate:

Dele-Bashiru shines

Moore has given the 20-year-old plenty of freedom in the system Wednesday are currently using, which is allowing him to drift from left to right.

Last night he caused Cambridge plenty of problems.

A first-half effort was close to pulling Wednesday level and his finish for 1-1 on 80 minutes was superb: flashed across Mitov and into the far corner after breaking onto a loose ball.

It was an all-round positive display from Dele-Bashiru. He had four shots on goal, attempted one key pass and accrued a pass success of 89.7% despite his advanced position (WhoScored).

In this kind of form, more goals and assists will flow, which will only aid Wednesday’s rise up the table.

Influence of two-man axis growing

Looking back on Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers on October 9th, Moore’s side were quite lucky to escape with three points. They mustered only eight shots that day, two of which were on target.

There was a bit more oomph in the 2-2 draw with AFC Wimbledon, where the Owls had 13 attempts (eight on target), with signs that a two-man axis in attack was having an impact.

Last night, Wednesday had 20 attempts on the Cambridge goal and another seven on target. If it wasn’t for Mitov, all the points could’ve been heading back to Yorkshire. The Cambridge goalkeeper denied Liam Palmer’s late header with a superb save.

That chance was created by Barry Bannan’s beautifully floated ball, but the presence of two strikers in the penalty area created space for the drifting full-back.

Moore’s side are benefitting from having two strikers on the pitch at the same time, whatever the combination of Said Berahino, Lee Gregory and Callum Paterson gets the nod.

It’s a system that’s growing and developing, with the attacking statistics beginning to look a lot better.

Anything still possible for Wednesday

We are only 13 games into the new season and, for Wednesday, they are still adapting to a new level.

Moore was forced to change a lot of personnel within his squad in the summer and, despite their obvious quality, it was unlikely they’d gel from the off.

Wednesday have drawn five times this season and aren’t quite setting the pace in League One like they’d hoped.

However, without truly getting it together yet, they sit ninth and just a couple of points adrift of the play-offs. Slightly further ahead, they are only nine points off leaders Plymouth Argyle, who have played a game more.

Moore won’t allow Wednesday to get ahead of themselves and set unrealistic targets. But anything is still possible this season for the Owls if they keep building point by point.