Holt's error spells doom for woeful Wednesday

Ten years ago Sheffield Wednesday had just played one cup final and were preparing for a second, while also managing a respectable seventh in the inaugural Premiership season. A decade on, as this draw condemned the Owls to relegation to the Second Division, their horizons have now shifted from Wembley to the more mundane delights of Blackpool, Swindon and Colchester.

Not that this result at the Withdean did Brighton's prospects much good. Combined with Stoke's victory at Coventry, the Seagulls now have to win their final two games and hope the Potters lose both, and leave it up to goal difference to sort out the last team to suffer the drop.

On this grim day for the Owls, it was their full debutant Grant Holt who gave them a lifeline for survival but then took it away as well. The 22-year-old striker, lifted from non-League football with Barrow in March, scored in the first half, which would have been enough for Wednesday to live on for at least another week at this level.

However, Holt, having scored his first goal for the Owls, then was the culprit when he handled Kerry Mayo's cross after 56 minutes. The forward had found himself in the Wednesday area but made the mistake that led to Bobby Zamora successfully converting from the penalty spot, and ultimately confirmed his side's relegation.

With Brighton's fate still in the balance – though only just – their manager Steve Coppell was happy to cling to the faint hope that they could stay up. He said: "There is still life in us and in the second half we showed we had the desire. We are still in there by a thread and having some prospect of survival is better than no prospect. But this result doesn't help anybody."

It was Wednesday who looked by far the brighter initially, and they deserved their lead after just quarter of an hour. Holt had two minutes earlier set up Michael Reddy for a shot from Paul McLaren's flick, but it was the forward himself who gave the visitors the lead. Leigh Bromby supplied McLaren, who in turn fed Holt, and he found the corner of Dave Beasant's net from the edge of the penalty area.

Unfortunately for Holt it was the same area where he handled in the second-half. Once Brighton equalised, Wednesday almost retook the lead, Barry Brian-Murphy releasing Lloyd Owusu for a run on goal that ended with Beasant blocking his shot.

At the other end Richard Carpenter then sent in a cross for Paul Kitson, who tested Kevin Pressman to the full with a header that he tipped over the bar, but Brighton failed to create enough chances to deserve anything more than a point.

The same could be said of Wednesday, who faded just when they needed to be more adventurous. After relegation from the Premiership three years ago, the Owls will now have to endure their first season in the third tier of English football since 1980.

Brighton and Hove Albion (5-3-2): Beasant; Mayo, Blackwell, Ingimarsson, Cullip, Watson (Barrett, 87); Rodger, Carpenter, Brooker (Hart, 59); Kitson, Zamora. Substitutes not used: Packham (gk), Oatway, Jones.

Sheffield Wednesday (3-5-2): Pressman; Maddix, Bromby, Smith; Barry-Murphy, McLaren, Quinn, Haslam, Westwood (Wood, 83); Reddy (Owusu, 28), Holt (Kuqi, 83). Substitutes not used: Stringer (gk), R Evans.

Referee: K Hill (Royston).