Sheffield Wednesday: Luhukay's message to players after Owls home woe

The Owls slipped to 17th in the Championship after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Blues.

Marco Matias was dismissed in a wretched opening 45 minutes as Birmingham established a three-goal cushion after strikes by Jota , 2, and David Davis.

Striker Lucas Joao grabbed a second-half consolation for Wednesday, who also had Daniel Pudil sent off to compound Luhukay’s misery.

He told The Star: “We must look to ourselves. We made the mistakes in the first half, and we had two red cards.

“Tomorrow (Sunday) we will speak to the players, analyse what went wrong and have a new view for the game at Barnsley.

“We must not look to the referee or the opponent, we must look to ourselves to be better in the future.”

The Owls entered the contest having recorded three straight league clean sheets.

But individual lapses in concentration cost them dearly and prompted Luhukay to withdraw skipper Glenn Loovens in the 26th minute after change system from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3.

“We were 2-0 down, so decided to bring a striker on in Lucas,” conceded Luhukay.

“But when we had the red card, that wasn’t what we hoped when we changed the situation.”

The 52-year-old, still searching for his first league win as Wednesday chief, refused to criticise referee Scott Duncan for not giving the Owls a 78th-minute penalty after Joao was bundled over by midfielder Cheikh Ndoy . Duncan felt the challenge took place outside of the box and gave a free-kick before booking Ndoye.

Luhukay said: “We had a situation with Lucas when he went inside the 16 (box). It was maybe a penalty, but the referee decided outside. That was maybe a moment when we could have got back in the game.

“But with the second red card, nine players against 11, it then becomes very difficult to put the game in our direction.”

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