Actually quite good fun in the end: Sheffield Wednesday lay on a Trueman Show in Papa Johns Trophy goodbye
In the end, it was all quite fun.
For all the groaning about the need to play out a Papa Johns Trophy dead rubber against Leicester City’s under-21s, Sheffield Wednesday put on a decent show, gave debuts to a number of encouraging debuts and won the match 2-0.
An early free-kick from Callum Paterson got the Owls off and underway, settling any back-of-the-mind nerves they might have had. And then the moment of the clash came as teenager Will Trueman scored on debut, celebrating as if the Kop were full in a moment of genuine delight for all present.
For all the loveliness, let’s all hope that is Wednesday’s last Pizza Cup outing for some time.
Have a handful of talking points from a pleasant evening at S6.
The youngsters
Will Trueman and Jay Glover held the midfield, and with the former making his senior debut his first action was a clattering tackle on Zach Booth that nearly put him in the Leppings Lane Beres. He scored Wednesday’s second, poking home Jaden Brown’s pass inside, and was a bright spark all evening.
Both youngsters did well, putting themselves about and offering some nice touches.
Leojo Davidson was making his first start and caught the eye, forcing Foxes stopper Chituru Odunze into a decent save midway through the first half.
Paulo Aguas, Rio Shipston and Bailey Cadamarteri were introduced to good effect in the second half.
150 up for Hunt
It’s not how he’d have dreamt it, but Tuesday night was Jack Hunt’s 150th appearance in a Sheffield Wednesday shirt.
Strewn across two spells in different divisions, he’s found match minutes hard to come by this season thanks to a combination of illness, injury and the form of Liam Palmer at right wing-back.
There’s no doubt his experience and ability going forward will be much more utilised as the season rolls on and as Moore indicated pre-match, the outing offered much-needed miles in the legs.
He looked good in moments and was harshly judged to have fouled Tawanda Maswanhise for Leicester’s saved penalty after the hour mark.
That he wore the armband was a nice and well-deserved touch.
Points to prove
Darren Moore pulled no punches when asked his opinion of the previous two Papa Johns Trophy games – that the players on show hadn’t given him any headaches when it came to selection for the proper stuff.
On Tuesday evening? Six of the starting line-up can certainly be considered senior players.
Callum Paterson, who standing up top among the teenage Foxes defence stood a little like Mr Gilbert in an Inbetweeners scene, wasted no time in getting his name on the scoresheet with a well-struck free-kick on eight minutes and was a constant problem for the visitors.
Both Mallik Wilks and Alex Mighten put in solid shifts, causing issues with their running, Cameron Dawson made a sharp early save and saved well from Maswanhise’s spot kick.
Mark McGuinness has little to prove given his impressive start to life at S6 and was solid on his return to the starting line-up.
Jaden Brown was the pick of that particular bunch, however, causing problems in the final third while keeping a lid on things going the other way. He was a bright spark in pre-season. One to keep an eye on going forward, perhaps.