Accrington Stanley boss makes Sheffield Wednesday admission after Owls ‘warning signs’

The Owls scored once in the first half and twice in the second as they returned to the top of the League One table on Monday, dominating the game at Hillsborough and scoring early in both halves on the way to victory.

Accrington’s manager admitted that they didn’t do enough to ‘get the crowd nervous’ at S6, and said that it was an opportunity missed given the Owls’ sketchy form heading into the tie.

“We didn’t really give ourselves a chance,” said Coleman “They came out of the traps well. We didn’t match them head on and we surrendered too much ground to them.

“They got a corner after 20 seconds in both halves. That’s not good enough for us, really. They’d had a couple of chances before they scored, so we’d had the warning signs. It was a poor goal from our point of view.

“Then we sort of cleared our heads and got back into the game. Sean (McConville) hit the bar with a free-kick and Aaron’s (Pressley) had a chance that maybe he could have pulled back to Mitch (Clark).

“We kept them at arm’s length, and we were desperate to get in at half time 1-0 and re-group… It’s poor from us (for the second goal) because we’re kicking off and then they’ve got a corner, so we gifted them the ball.

“Then it’s down to pure bad luck with a double ricochet that could go anywhere, it falls right to the lad on a plate and he puts it in…

“We’ve got to remember the calibre of team that we’re playing against, but it was a missed opportunity in the respect that they’ve been nervy over the last three or four games and they haven’t been winning. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to get the crowd nervous – and that’s a bit of good play by them and good play by us.”

Wednesday now face Burton Albion on Saturday afternoon, with the Owls keen to maintain their place in top spot now that they’ve reclaimed it.

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