Sheffield Wednesday finally broke an unwanted 42-year record thanks to ‘fully deserved’ win vs Swansea City

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By beating Swansea City this week, Sheffield Wednesday not only picked up a crucial three points on the road, they made history for the club.

After falling to defeat late on against West Brom at the weekend, Sheffield Wednesday were naturally desperate to get back to winning ways and give their play-off chances a boost against a struggling Swansea team.

In a tight game of few chances, the Owls were able to forge ahead thanks to a goal from super-sub Michael Smith in the 66th minute at the Liberty Stadium.

From there, resolute defending and hard work won the day for Danny Rohl’s team, and saw them move to within two points of the top six in the Championship table, with 14 games to go.

But, looking at the bigger picture, this win was a momentous occasion for the Yorkshire club, who finally were able to purge some demons that have haunted them for more than 40 years.

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Sheffield Wednesday won away at Swansea for first time since 1983

Believe it or not, before last night, Sheffield Wednesday had failed to win away at Swansea since 1983. 42 years and seven games later, and the Owls finally prevailed in South Wales (it’s actually been 18 games if you include any away game in Wales).

Of course, in that time, Sheffield Wednesday have enjoyed the highs of Premier League football, and have sunk to the depths of League One on more than one occasion, before bouncing back and landing in the middle of the second tier.

Interestingly, not a single Sheffield Wednesday player was even alive the last time the Owls won away at Swansea. And, even more astounding: Danny Rohl wasn’t even alive in 1983, either.

It was so long ago, in fact, that the game was an old Division Two clash between the two teams, long before the formation of the Premier League and the birth of the Championship as we know it, when the English Football League looked a lot different.

It’s a win that many Owls fans will never have witnessed before, too, and that makes it an extra special three points that simply has to be savoured, and shows just how far the team has come under Rohl’s stewardship.

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Danny Rohl delighted with win, gives ‘big credit’ to his players

Rohl was very pleased with his team’s efforts in securing the win, naturally, and had plenty to say about the performance and the approach to the game after the full-time whistle.

Speaking via the club’s official website, Rohl said: “I think it was fully deserved, especially second half we had a lot of good pressing moments. We adjusted things in the half-time break, some small things, and it worked well with a lot of good ball winning situations.

“Straight after the 1-0, we had the next opportunity to score and I think in the game management side, we learned from the West Brom game. When a home team has just four shots, I think that shows a lot how we pressed as a group, as a unit, it was a good one tonight and this is how we have to work.”

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
5	BlackburnBlackburn	32	14	6	12	37	31	6	48
6	West BromWest Brom	32	11	14	7	41	30	11	47
7	Bristol CityBristol City	32	11	12	9	40	36	4	45
8	Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday	32	12	9	11	45	48	-3	45
9	MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough	31	12	8	11	50	42	8	44
10	CoventryCoventry	32	12	8	12	42	40	2	44

On what he said to inspire the players, Rohl added: “My final speech to the players was that for the first 60 minutes we will have a team on the pitch that will fight for every inch, and the last 30 minutes we will have a team on the pitch to win this game.

“There is a reason why we have the most goals from subs in this league; as a manager you can have ideas but then it is about the players and big credit to them, they believe that we can change something, have an impact.”

Sheffield Wednesday’s record vs Swansea City since 1983

Looking back at that long, painful 42 years for Sheffield Wednesday, it’s important to remember that for a long time, the two sides were playing in different divisions.

While Wednesday were flying high in the top tier, Swansea were battling it out lower down the football ladder, but there are still seven meetings between the two sides to examine in that period.

Of those, the Owls lost four and drew three, including a 2-0 defeat in an FA Cup fifth round replay back in 2018.

The win this week was actually the first time Wednesday have gotten the better of Swansea, home or away, since 2019, with a 3-1 win at Hillsborough in February.

In fact, the win on Wednesday night was only the second triumph the Owls have tasted against Swansea since way back in 1984. But, interestingly, Sheffield Wednesday do have the edge, historically speaking, with 14 wins to Swansea’s ten, and 15 draws between the two sides.