What made Sheffield Wednesday boss ‘very proud’ in victory at Wanderers

Henrik Pedersen was proud of his youthful Sheffield Wednesday side after they beat Wanderers on penalties.

The Owls were pegged back three times on the night, but they eventually won the shootout thanks to a number of brilliant stops by Pierce Charles. Pedersen’s squad had several debutants, and the Dane was pleased with their performance, which earned them a berth in the second round. “Of course, I’m very proud,” he stated after the last whistle. “I believe we had six Academy boys on the team tonight, and we had six or seven debuts.

“We said before the game, ‘Yes, we have a very youthful team today, but there are also some good older players around’. But how they performed today makes me very proud of them.” Pedersen praised his team’s determination to keep going after being pushed back by the Whites. “We were much more aggressive today in our pressing,” he said. “We had many more moments when we had good pressing triggers and pressed higher up the pitch.

“But we didn’t just press higher; we also won more balls higher up the pitch and had the energy to play some transitions, particularly in the first half. “Then, when you’ve won, you draw and move on again. We talk a lot about no evaluation, just next action. We don’t dwell on the circumstance and instead move on to the next action. “The boys truly show it every time they score. We progressed swiftly and set new goals for ourselves each time. “I think there’s a culture factor that was really strong today: they stick together and keep going. I enjoy seeing young men demonstrate this kind of belief and confidence.

“Then I think another component is to observe how delighted the elder players were, as well as the young guys. We’re together; that was incredibly powerful to watch for me.” There were some tired legs in the closing stages, but Wednesday held their nerve and converted all four penalties in the shootout. “They were very tired in the end but they kept on going and the mentality was top to the end,” Pedersen told the reporter. “Winning on penalties always takes a little luck, but it also requires a lot of respect. We believe in it and will do it till the end; it’s a fantastic mentality.”