Tom Lees says sorry to Sheffield Wednesday teammates after defensive blunder
Skipper Tom Lees apologised to his Owls teammates after his defensive howler in the Championship club's defeat to Middlesbrough.
The defender gifted Boro their second goal at Hillsborough last night. Lees panicked under pressure, playing an awful pass which went straight to Mo Besic, who powered forward before calmly squaring to Britt Assombalonga who scored his fifth goal of the season.
Adam Reach, the Wednesday midfielder, told The Star: "Tom apologised but he didn't need to.
"He is one of the most consistent players at this club, especially in the time I have been here.
"It was unfortunate but when you try to play the football we are trying to do then mistakes will happen sometimes.
"Tom is a great player and he is our captain.
"He will be disappointed but we are not disappointed with him. He has not let anyone down.
"Collectively we made mistakes as well and we were punished as a team.
"We win as a team and lose as a team. We will all learn from that.
"The good thing about the Championship is the games come thick and fast and we have another one on Tuesday, which will be difficult. We have back to back away games so we will look to pick up maximum points from them."
Lees arguably should have done better for Middlesbrough's opener. He gave Besic far too much time and space to line up a right foot shot from 12 yards.
Reach, who twice went close to putting the Owls ahead in the first half, pulled a goal back in the 82nd minute to set up a grandstand finish but Jos Luhukay's side couldn't find an equaliser.
He said: "The first goal is always important and we showed that against Leeds and WBA when we did take our chances that we can get a stronghold in the game.
"There were few chances in the first half. Both teams had some chances and if we had managed to convert one of them then we would have been in a good position going into half-time.
"I think the most disappointing thing is we conceded so early after half-time. We came out and we just weren't quite at it or maybe the concentration levels had dropped and we were punished. We maybe dropped our heads a little bit after conceding the second goal."
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