The Owls managed to emerge from the month of October outside the bottom three for the first time during the 2007/08 campaign, after picking up two victories from what looked like a difficult month of fixtures on paper.

With countless problems off the pitch, there was little surprise that table-topping Watford reinforced their position in the table, effectively sealing the victory in the first 15 minutes. First team regulars Richard Wood, Tommy Spurr, Steve Watson, Francis Jeffers, Wade Small and Lee Grant all missed the trip to Hertfordshire through injury or illness.

Watford duo Marlon King and Darius Henderson made it 2-0 inside 15 minutes before loan star Graham Kavanagh scored what proved only to be a consolation goal after 36 minutes despite an improved showing from the Owls after the break.

Laws suffered another blow later in the same week, this time at home to Leicester City. The Foxes were just two points ahead of Wednesday so this was a great opportunity for the Owls to exit the bottom three for the first time.

But Gary Megson's men came to S6 unbeaten in three, having knocked Premiership side Aston Villa out of the Carling Cup. Leicester's indifferent start to season meant they found themselves lurking over the Championship trap door, despite beating favourites Watford 4-1 in August.

Two goals in a spell of seven minutes gave Leicester a lead that the hosts could not come back from, with McAuley and Kisnorbo both converting their chances with the aid of some slack defending against the Foxes.

Having failed to get anything from the game at home to Leicester, the Owls travelled to the Britannia Stadium as clear underdogs against a Stoke City side that were currently holding their own in the play-off spots.

Unbeaten in seven, Tony Pulis' side were looking to make further ground towards the automatic promotion places, but an excellent performance from Wednesday - perhaps their best all season on the road - stopped Stoke in their tracks as the Owls posted a 4-2 victory.

A brilliant strike from Jermaine Johnson, two goals from Marcus Tudgay and a late effort from Deon Burton gave the Owls a well deserved three points, leapfrogging Norwich into 22nd position. The result though was tempered by the fact that Francis Jeffers sustained a serious ankle injury at Stoke, which would keep him away from first team action for most of the season.

Wednesday couldn't make it back-to-back league wins, as Hillsborough welcomed Brian Laws' former side Scunthorpe United. Deon Burton opened the scoring for the Owls from the spot but his conversion was cancelled out a minute later by Martin Paterson who also went on to score again before the break.

Injury woes also continued for Laws as defender Richard Wood was stretchered off with a dislocated shoulder, which would eventually require surgery. Wednesday returned to the bottom three, but this was soon to change as Blackpool came to S6.

A good start to the game from Wednesday counted for little as Blackpool went into the break one goal to the good. Against the run of play Hoolahan scored for the visitors and it looked like it might be another of those afternoons for the Owls.

The home side came out fighting in the second half and headed goals from Marcus Tudgay and Richard Hinds within a spell of five minutes turned the game around and provided three much needed points to lift Laws' men from the bottom three.

October Matches

Watford 2-1 Owls (Kavanagh 36)

Owls 0-2 Leicester

Stoke 2-4 Owls (Johnson 16, Tudgay 23, 85, Burton 87)

Owls 1-2 Scunthorpe (Burton 23 pen)

Owls 2-1 Blackpool (Tudgay 66, Hinds 71)

To see the first two parts of our season review click on the links below.

August 2007