One Sheffield Wednesday star made a huge impact despite only playing nine minutes against Swansea City.
Sheffield Wednesday had an unbelievable opportunity to climb out of the relegation zone this weekend.
Bailey Cadamarteri’s first half opener briefly took them out of the bottom three and gave fans a glimmer of hope ahead of their final seven games.
However, the Owls were unable to keep the visitors out and eventually conceded to loanee Jamal Lowe.
Danny Rohl’s side only managed 31% possession on home soil, but had 14 shots and were punished for not taking their chances.
Cadamarteri will be delighted to get his first league goal since December, while he wasn’t the only striker to catch the eye.
Michael Smith cameo was ‘interesting’
Michael Smith was brought onto replace Ike Ugbo with only nine minutes remaining.
The Star journalist Joe Crann took to X to share an ‘interesting’ stat about his cameo.
He wrote: “Interesting stat from yesterday… Michael Smith made more key passes than any other player on the pitch (3), and he was only on for about 10 minutes.”
Crann was also impressed with Will Vaulks, adding: “A less surprising stat is that no player made more tackles (5) than Will Vaulks.”
It still seems likely that Michael Smith could depart Hillsborough in the summer, having been linked with a return to League One in January.
However, his brief appearance against the Swans shows he can still have a positive impact for Sheffield Wednesday.
The forward only made seven touches following his substitution, but made three key passes and won one tackle.
Is Mallik Wilks a lost cause?
Smith looked much more positive than Mallik Wilks, who was brought on at the same time as his teammate.
The 25-year-old had four touches, completed 0% of his crosses, won zero headers, lost possession three times, gave away one foul and was offside once.
It is unclear whether Wilks’ future lies at Hillsborough, but to consider keeping him over Smith or Lee Gregory seems crazy. He may be younger, but he has been incredibly poor for the most part.
Wilks only has three goals in 42 appearances for the Owls, and certainly isn’t a player you can rely on to make an impact off the bench in a must-win game. Smith, though, could be a real asset if he can continue to contribute like he did yesterday.
One thing for sure is that Rohl needs to get Ike Ugbo back on the scoresheet, because his goals could really prove to be the difference between going down and staying up.