The Owls are back in the play-off places

Henrik Pedersen has explained how ‘tough’ it was to leave out Mason Burstow from Sheffield Wednesday’s squad at the weekend.

The Owls thrashed AFC Wimbledon 5-0 at Hillsborough on Saturday, scoring three goals in seven minutes before half-time, adding another two after the break to secure a first league win in four and climb back into the play-offs.

Wednesday have six loan players but can only name five in a matchday squad. Jaden Heskey and Ali Al-Hamadi had each missed out individually earlier in the season but on Saturday Pedersen opted to leave out Burstow. The forward, who is on a season-long loan from Hull City, has scored one goal in 12 appearances this term and none since the end of August.

Pedersen told The Star: “As I said to Mason, you trained so well this week, but a lot of players have trained well this week, and it's tough. This is the situation with six loan players that you don't need to have had a bad training week or a bad game (to miss out). You can also all be good, and still one has to be left over. Of course he is (disappointed), but it's a circumstance we cannot change, and they have a big, big hunger, all six, to be a part of the five.”

Callum Slattery scored Wednesday’s fourth goal in the win against the Dons, meeting Reece James’ quality cross on the volley. After starting the season in the ‘10’ role, it has looked like the 28-year-old has been tasked with playing out wide. However, Pedersen disagreed with that assessment, explaining he is still playing centrally when Wednesday are in possession.

When asked about Slattery again on Saturday, Pedersen said: “His offensive positions are really, really strong, and we saw that a lot of time that his tactical level has increased a lot. Now, when we start to have more passes in the team, it's all easier to find him instead of when we're winning and losing (the ball). He played a strong, strong game.”

Although it did not matter in the end, Wednesday appealed strongly for a penalty when Yan Valery appeared to be taken out in the second-half. But referee Emily Heaslip, who was taking charge of her first-ever League One fixture, rejected the claims, and Pedersen agreed with her.

“Honestly, I think it was outside,” he added.

The Owls return to action on Tuesday night away at Notts County.