Danny Rohl will be a very happy man this evening after guiding his Sheffield Wednesday side to a thrilling comeback over Derby County at Pride Park.
Despite a dire first-half showing from Sheffield Wednesday in which they went a goal down, the Owls were able to turn things around dramatically after the break.
While Barry Bannan’s incredible equaliser will steal the headlines, it is actually one crucial tweak Danny Rohl made to the the team that earned the win.
He may not have got the highest score in our post-match Sheffield Wednesday player ratings after the win over Derby County, but Jamal Lowe was the game-changer for his side.
- READ MORE: The ‘crazy’ incident that had Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl fuming against Derby County
Jamal Lowe completely changed the game for Sheffield Wednesday
After seeing his front three produce very little for 55 minutes, Rohl switched things up by bringing on Lowe for Djeidi Gassama, and got one hell of a performance out of his number nine.
Not only did Lowe end up bagging the match-winning goal in the 94th minute, but the striker also put in all the effort and energy needed to grind out that win for the Owls.
As per SofaScore, the 30-year-old’s heatmap has him all over the pitch, especially causing damage down the left channel. Lowe also ended up having three shots in his 32 minute outing, and outperformed his xG of 0.55 thanks to his late goal.
| Statistic | Jamal Lowe vs Derby |
|---|---|
| Goals | 1 |
| xG | 0.55 |
| Touches | 21 |
| Passing success | 86% |
| Duels won | 50% |
| Shots | 3 |
| Tackles | 3 |
| Interceptions | 1 |
The real tale of his success, though, is in the more nitty gritty details. Lowe won three of his six duels, made three tackles, and one interception, to show just how much he was putting into the press for Sheffield Wednesday.
Simply put, Lowe changed the game for his team. Until he came on, Wednesday barely threatened the Derby defence, and that lack of running and penetration revealed the Owls to be a fairly toothless proposition.
Danny Rohl should let Jamal Lowe lead the line vs Preston
With Ike Ugbo’s continued struggles in front of goal, we had suspected Sheffield Wednesday would dip into the market for a new forward in January.
They may still need to do that, but with Lowe’s performance against Derby on Sunday, it appears Rohl has something a little different that he should explore further.
Lowe showed he has the instinctual movement and finishing that Ugbo has displayed in the past, as well as putting in the work on the ground similar to how Michael Smith operates. Essentially, Lowe’s performance against Derby was the best of both worlds.
That’s not to suggest that Lowe will suddenly become the main man up top for Wednesday, but he’s certainly earned himself a starting spot against Preston, and from there, who knows what could happen?