Darren Moore makes revealing ‘crystal ball’ squad depth admission as rookies make Sheffield Wednesday bench

The inclusion of teenage rookies Sean Fusire and Rio Shipston left the Wednesday bench looking a little anaemic ahead of the promotion scrap, in which the Owls left with a creditable point in an entertaining clash to keep a 17-match unbeaten league run burning.

The pair travelled with the squad regardless having been involved in the midweek FA Cup defeat at Fleetwood Town and were dragged into the matchday squad after late issues were suffered by Lee Gregory, Mallik Wilks, Jack Hunt and Reece James.

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Dennis Adeniran made an impact from the bench, leaving behind only the teenage duo, fellow midfielder Tyreeq Bakinson and wing-back Jaden Brown in the outfield stakes, with no recognised back-up option left in reserve in defence or attack.

“You look at both sides’ benches and both teams, maybe yeah,” Moore said, admitting those injuries meant Ipswich’s depth on the day was greater than that of Wednesday.

“I liked the 11 we had out there that started, we had Fis and Dennis coming off the bench.

“I think maybe what we didn't have was the ability to change the front two missing Greggers and Mallik because if they're fit you get to throw them on and we've all seen the impact they had last week coming on fresh for the final 20 minutes against Plymouth.

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“If we'd had them today they would have made an impact.”

An inactive January transfer window saw only Aden Flint was brought in with loanees Mark McGuinness and Alex Mighten heading the other way and prompted some concern that Wednesday had left themselves short in the event of an injury outbreak.

It offers particular concern especially now given a potentially season-ending injury to utility man Callum Paterson, with 17 league matches yet to play.

“All this was in the last 48 or 24 hours,” Moore said on a whirlwind spate of minor injury issues. “We would've had those four players on the bench and ready to go. I didn't want to take any chances with them with the volume of games we've got coming up. It's Tuesday, Saturday then the following Saturday.

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“Hopefully we can get them back and they can play a significant part.”

Pressed on how much concern there is over the potential of being left short with injuries to players in key positions and though Wednesday remain in a hugely strong position and are well over four months unbeaten, Moore said: “I keep saying with questions about the squad depth, only time will tell.

“We've shown great versatility with a number of the players, but time will tell. I haven't got a crystal ball now, but what I have got is a group of players and every single one of them will be called upon at one point this season.

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“There will be a lot of rotation in terms of match minutes and managing them through this season.”

That rotation effort will start this week with the double visit of struggling pair Morecambe and MK Dons.