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da bet esporte： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.
Sheffield Wednesday needed a stoppage-time equaliser to salvage a point at home against Fulham on Saturday as Garry Monk remains unbeaten at the helm.
Snapshot
The visitors had opened the scoring just before half time as Owls shot-stopper Keiren Westwood parried a Joe Bryan cross straight into the path of Tom Cairney, who simply couldn’t miss.
Monk looked to spark a reaction in the second half, first introducing winger Jacob Murphy on the hour mark before replacing midfielder Kieran Lee with striker Sam Winnall ten minutes later.
The last throw of the dice came with 14 minutes remaining in the match as Steven Fletcher was withdrawn for the long-serving Atdhe Nuhiu and the 40-year-old was rewarded in injury-time.
Off the Bench
A mark of desperation, possibly. A mark of an additional game plan, indeed.
In the 93rd minute of the match, Nuhiu scrambled in a deflected Kadeem Harris cross with his head to finally beat visiting shot-stopper Marcus Bettinelli, rescuing a draw at Hillsborough.
The Kosovo international had quite an impact in such a short space of time.
He won four aerial duels, had two shots on target and netted that all-important equaliser having had just nine touches of the ball, per WhoScored.
That was his 45th goal in his 241st appearance in the blue and white stripes, but game time has been limited this season – the 6 foot 6 colossus has been restricted to just 52 minutes in the Championship and one Carabao Cup start.
The 30-year-old may not be the most prolific goalscorer, but he offers the team something different – a sheer towering physical presence.
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Fletcher may win 6.5 aerial duels per game on average, but he’s five inches smaller than Nuhiu.
His team-mate, Harris, who provided the assist has only added weight to the striker’s claims by saying:
“He is massive to have in the team, his feet are really good for a man his size. He causes defences all sorts of problems. He is something that we haven’t got in the team. He is a little bit different, more physical.”
Nuhiu could prove to be a valuable option for Monk, especially if chasing the game when a ‘plan B’ is required as shown against Fulham.
Saturday proved how good he can be when utilised correctly.