“I’ve no idea” Stockport County boss perplexed by Sheffield Wednesday goal that turned cup tie

The Hatters lead from the 16th minute until the 97th when Tyreeq Bakinson bundled a dramatic equaliser into the Kop End goal. Two penalty shootout saves from debutant AC Milan loanee Devis Vasquez saw the home side through.

It followed an 86th-minute defeat against Gillingham in league action on Saturday and left a sour taste in the mouth of manager Dave Challinor.

“We’ve grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory two and a half days running,” he said. “It’s disappointing, the manner we’ve defended, got behind the ball and done that resolutely.

“We’d probably got to the point where we had good little spells looking after the ball, we haven’t seen it off, we haven’t defended the moment and then I’ve no idea how the ball has gone in. I’ve no idea who scored. It’s impossible from that angle.

“It’s by the by. Ultimately, we haven’t won. We have to move on and quickly to Saturday, which is a lot more important than tonight in the grand scheme of things.”

On his side’s hard-working performance, he felt his players could have managed the game better in a second half that saw Wednesday get themselves going.

“We frustrated them at times, we looked a threat,” Challinor continued. “We needed to be better in terms of ball rentention in that second half, especially when they were chasing the game.

“We had some opportunities and counter-attacks to go and potentially get a second. In the main, we limited them to very little, there weren’t many opportunities where you say ‘They should score there’ and we put our bodies on the line. We just couldn’t hang on in the end.

“If we take care of the performance over a course of games you’d hope that a little bit of luck might go in your favour and we come away with what we deserve. That’s not been the case upto now.

“We lick our wounds, tomorrow is another day. It’s been a tough shift to come here and work in that environment and not get the rewards at the end of it. Attention had switched to Saturday.”