Liam Cooper absence explained with Sheffield Wednesday fitness need outlined
Sheffield Wednesday drew 1-1 with Cambridge United.
Sheffield Wednesday were without defensive general Liam Cooper for Tuesday evening’s 1-1 draw with Cambridge United - though any fear of a continued absence for the centre-half appears to have been put to bed.
Just two days on from the departure of Henrik Pedersen as manager, the Owls started slowly but grew into the game at Hillsborough to take a 1-0 lead thanks to a confident Mason Burstow finish on 50 minutes. The game went one way and another and both teams had chances to win it after Sullay Kaikai’s equaliser.
Caretaker boss Matt Hamshaw explained when asked on Cooper’s absence: “No, no, there's nothing too serious. It's just obviously Cooper's played a lot of games in a short period of time and we felt if we played him tonight, there'd be a bit of a risk.
“Look, we're at a stage of the season where we don't want to really put people under risk. Cooper's been amazing this season. I think he's arguably one of his best players. So we felt there was too much of a risk tonight. Sill's obviously coming back. Rico (Santos) and Dish (Bernard) are closing in, but aren't there yet. So, yes, we need those big players back for us.”
Yan Valery and Ernie Weaver both came off in the second half with some discomfort, but Hamshaw again indicated that was felt to be more a case of rough and tumble rather than any outright injury. Youngster Weaver was making his first start in League One football this season.
“I hope not,” he said on any likelihood of an issue for either player. “Like I've just said to them in there, look, it's three games in a week and that's League One football. You have to be ready to go and go and go. And I think we have to get better at that. Everybody at this club, this is what League One football is. We've all been part of it. I've seen it probably better than anybody. I know how tough it is and gruelling it is.
“You have to just keep rolling yourself out, strapping yourself up and push through the barriers. But that is what this league is and we have to make sure that we're physically better probably in those areas.”