Smith on Soccer

HANDS up how many knew it was coming? I reckon at least 35,000 Owls fans would have put next week's sweetie money on Wednesday throwing away their two goal lead at Charlton on Saturday. The Ceefax/Radio Sheffield induced euphoria that a two-goals-in-15-minutes-lead brings probably lasted all of two minutes for most. Years of last-minute horrors and thrown away leads will have given Wednesdayites a thick skin when it comes to late collapses. But it still hurts. What Wednesday haven't had since they were relegated from the Premiership is the confidence and spirit that Charlton themselves showed when they threw away a two goal lead and went on to win 4-3 in the league cup against Stockport on Tuesday night. Last season Wednesday threw away points on no less than 13 occasions after scoring to take a lead or go level. United aren't averse to chucking away vital points either. They did it 10 times in the league last season, if they had got an extra point from just ONE of those games, well, you know the rest. Congratulations to Howard Webb for his performance at Old Trafford on Sunday. He somehow managed to get BOTH controversial penalty decisions right - but I don't know how. The first one was the easier of the two but how he could tell that the ball had hit Wes Brown's chest rather than his hand for the second one I don't know.I like to think the right decision was reached on both occasions through brilliant observational skills and positioning rather than him playing safe...