How Darren Moore felt Sheffield Wednesday coped in ‘barometer’ outing at Southampton

A well-taken first-half goal by Josh Windass put the Owls into a deserved lead against the managerless Saints before a lapse in concentration from Marvin Johnson cost the Owls a penalty – scored by England international James Ward-Prowse – on the stroke of half-time.

David Stockdale was called into action alongside the defence with more regularity in a second-half the hosts had the better of but after the match finished 1-1, only Dominic Iorfa;s sudden death penalty miss split the two sides.

Speaking after the match, Moore expressed his satisfaction with the nature of the performance on the south coast.

Though Moore made clear he wanted to progress in the competition, the result means Wednesday are out of two of the three cup competitions with all eyes turning to the ultimate mission statement; promotion to the Championship.

“I’m so proud of the boys tonight,” Moore said. “I said to the boys, ‘You’ve come down here and effectively over 90 minutes, you’ve kept Premier League opposition to a draw.’

“On another occasion you never know. In the first half especially, we were outstanding.

“I thought out tactical play in terms of overloading the midfield – our three against their two – would expose them and the goal came from that with Tyreeq, Fiz and Baz. They interchanged great, Fiz gets away and Josh does what Josh does.

“I was really pleased with them. Even at half-time when we gave the penalty away, we just had to continue, tidy up in areas and make the right decisions. The game wasn’t over, it was still wide open for either team to win the game.

“Both teams had a go, both teams changed system to try to win the game.

“I’ve got no problem with it at all [the nature of the defeat]. I wanted to see where my team was at. It was a barometer against Premier League opposition and they did really well, all of them.”