‘Teddy’ Johnson on target again for Wednesday

Monday, February 06, 2012

JERMAINE Johnson booted in his third goal of the season for Sheffield Wednesday to aid his team to rally from a goal down to overcome a dogged Yeovil Town 2-1 on Saturday at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

The 31-year-old Jamaican midfielder struck in the 57th minute from 25 yards to equalise for The Owls after Jonathan Obika of Nigerian descent sent the Glovers ahead in the 41st minute.

Obika stroked past Stephen Bywater after a keen through ball from Ryan Dickson.

On the 80th minute, Reda Johnson of Benin slammed in from close range for The Owls to fly into second place on 57 points in the League One for automatic promotion. Charlton Athletic lead League One with 64 points.

Johnson was a key player for Wednesday throughout the match, taking three shots (two on goal), drawing three fouls, but picked up a yellow card in the 89th minute.

After 12 games, Johnson has so far logged 532 minutes for The Owls with three times in the starting line-up, once providing an assist, and nine times taking shots in the League One.

Wednesday manager Gary Megson told reporters afterwards: “It was an insipid first half from our point of view. We played OK, but we didn’t do the running like we normally do and that was disappointing.

“We had to improve in the second half and thankfully we did. When we get the stats back, I would be surprised if anyone worked harder than Reda Johnson and Jermaine Johnson.

“But the work rate did get better after the break and we got what I thought we deserved, which was three points.”

The six-foot-one-inch Johnson has 62 caps and nine goals for Jamaica, last playing in 2009 when the Reggae Boyz took on South Africa in Bloemfontein on November 11. The match ended goalless.

Johnson is contracted to Wednesday until this summer with a market value of £875,000 (JA$117.5m).