Sheffield Wednesday are surprisingly recent opponents in our history. We didn't meet them competitively until December 1970 in the Old Division 2 when we lost 2-1 up at Hillsborough before beating them 3-0 at home in Feb 1971. Overall we've met 39 times, winning 17, drawing 9 and losing 13, scoring 55 goals and conceding 54.
They have only beaten us three times at Vicarage Road in 18 attempts, the last of these in November 2000 when the wheels came off our brilliant start to the season as we went down 3-1 and never really recovered. We've won 11 at home and drawn 4 including the brilliant FA Cup 3rd Round tie in 1998 when as a Division 2 side we came very close to putting out Premiership Wednesday who included Paolo DiCanio in their line up. It finished 0-0 and we went out on penalties 5-3 in the replay.
Our biggest win was the 4-0 victory on the 25th March 1982 which put us in touching distance of promotion to top flight. Its a game I remember with a certain fondness as it was my very first one. Our biggest loss was by the same score up at Hillsborough in the League Cup when, having got us to the Quarter Finals, Vialli decided he didn't want to go any further in the competition and fielded a team with about a million changes. Of course he'd won the League Cup enough times with Chelsea so why bother doing it again at little old Watford?
Last season we went down 2-0 up at Hillsborough under Aidy. In March we drew 2-2 when an own goal and a McAnuff header would've been enough to win the game had the ref not allowed copious amounts of injury time and then awarded a last minute penalty just to ensure the scores were level.
Wednesday have only won once on their travels this season, a 3-1 win at Plymouth in August. Last Saturday they hosted Coventry, winning 2-0 and also welcomed Preston on Tuesday going down 2-1. They are currently two points and three places behind us in the table.
I can't find any current links between the sides but mutual friends include Leigh Bromby and Wilf Rostron, both of whom have not only turned out for Wednesday but also United as well.
