Sheffield Wednesday 1 - 0 Sheffield United

Sheff W 1-0 Sheff U: Two off in fiery derby

Updated: October 19, 2008, 3:32 PM UK

Sheffield Wednesday leapfrogged arch-rivals Sheffield United to climb to fifth place in the Coca-Cola Championship as Steve Watson's fine lob secured a 1-0 win in an incident-packed derby.

• Managers look to game changing decision

Watson's expertly-taken first-half effort decided the season's first Steel City clash in front of a crowd of 30,441 at Hillsborough, which saw both sides have a man sent off and Blades goalkeeper Paddy Kenny save a penalty.

Owls veteran Watson side-footed an exquisite volley over Kenny in the 35th minute, seven minutes after United central defender Matt Kilgallon had been shown a straight red card by referee Mike Dean after leaving Owls midfielder Sean McAllister in a heap.

Deon Burton saw his penalty well saved by Kenny 10 minutes after the break after Gary Speed had tripped Tommy Spurr in the area.

Owls winger Jermaine Johnson was then shown a red card for lashing out on the touchline after being replaced by Wednesday talisman Akpo Sodje.

Owls captain Richard Wood and Jamaica international Johnson both returned to Wednesday's starting line-up, while the Blades made just one change, with Brian Howard making his full debut following his transfer from Barnsley.

Sodje returned to the bench for the Owls, alongside new loan signing Lewis Buxton and Anthony Stokes took his place on United's bench after his loan move from Sunderland.

Burton's appeals for a penalty after tumbling under Ugo Ehiogu's challenge were waved away by referee Dean in a typically frenetic opening.

James O'Connor then burst on to a loose ball in midfield and laid an opening on a plate for Johnson, but the Owls winger skewed his shot over the crossbar.

Owls defender Mark Beevers almost redirected David Cotterill's cross into his own net at the other end and home goalkeeper Lee Grant then did well to save Howard's shot that took a wicked deflection off Marcus Tudgay.

Referee Dean then dealt the Blades a hammer blow, incensing manager Kevin Blackwell by showing Kilgallon a straight red card for what, at worst, looked a clumsy, if full-blooded, challenge on McAllister in the 28th minute.

Blackwell was forced to send on club captain Chris Morgan as a straight replacement for Kilgallon, sacrificing Cotterill.

The Owls needed just seven minutes to take advantage. Watson showed fine technique when meeting Morgan's headed clearance on the full, 25 yards from goal, to steer a clever lob over stranded Blades goalkeeper.

The Blades' 10 men made their attacking intentions clear after the break, but it looked ominous when Gary Speed tripped Tommy Spurr in the penalty area, with Dean pointing immediately to the spot.

But Blades goalkeeper Kenny dived the correct way, low to his right to keep out Burton's penalty in the 55th minute.

James Beattie headed just over for the Blades soon after, Wood poked Burton's pull-back just wide for the Owls and Tudgay's header shaved the crossbar as the action flowed.

Sodje brought a huge cheer from the Owls faithful when coming on in the 67th minute for Johnson, who trudged slowly off before unleashing his fury by kicking a plastic bottle by the bench.

This was spotted by the referee's assistant and the game was then held up for several minutes while Johnson was hauled back from the dressing room to be shown his second yellow card of the match and a subsequent red.

Stokes, sent on in place of Billy Sharp, did well to set up Beattie, whose low drive flashed narrowly wide.

Owls substitute Francis Jeffers, who replaced Burton in the 81st minute, crashed a 20-yard shot just over and then Stokes fired over a telling low cross soon after that evaded Speed and Beattie.

Dean added seven minutes on for stoppage time, but Wednesday fans were left to celebrate a second successive win over the Blades at Hillsborough.

Managers look to game changing decision

Both managers agreed referee Mike Dean was wrong to send off Sheffield United defender Matt Kilgallon in the season's first Steel City derby, which Sheffield Wednesday edged 1-0.

Blackwell said: "We didn't get the breaks today that mattered, but I'm proud of the lads.

"I don't think we got any decision that mattered. I'm afraid if you talk about referees you get fined these days and I'm only a poor manager, so I can't talk about referees.

"Not just the sending off. There were other fouls that have gone on in the game that were blatant and he's missed them.

"If that's a sending off we might as well pack up and go home.

"There was no malicious intent there. If he's to take a booking, fair enough, but that was pathetic.

"I've no complaints with the players, they gave me everything and we still had them hanging on at the end and that's all you can ask for when you're down to 10 men.''

Owls manager Laws spared a thought for his opposite number, but felt his side's display fully justified their win. Laws said: "The turning point was the sending off.

"No question about it, it changed the game completely around on its head, and it turned in to a nervy game for the rest of it. I have sympathy for Kev, because you look at that and from where we were, which was very close to it, it looked a yellow card.

"I've seen the video replay and from the referee's position he's deemed it a bit dangerous, a straight red. But I was also very nervous that he might even it up as well and that was one of our major talking points at half-time.''

Laws hailed match-winner Watson as the best player on the pitch and felt his goal deserved to win any match.

He continued: "It was sublime. It was composure and it capped a man-of-the-match performance for me from Steve Watson.

"His awareness as to where Paddy Kenny was, he had to be accurate. It was a great finish and it set the tone of the game.''

But Laws felt referee Dean was right to show Jermaine Johnson a second yellow card after the Jamaican had kicked a plastic bottle into the crowd after being substituted.

Laws said: "I don't want to throw everything at Jermaine and take the limelight away from the players.

"We'll sort it out internally. The referee's intentions were very clear. He felt JJ had kicked the bottle towards the crowd, which is a very dangerous act and therefore he deemed it as a yellow card, which accumulated to a red.

"We'll deal with it. The referee's dealt with it quite well in the end, although it did make for some confusion.''