Sheffield Wednesday boss quizzed on surprise changes and second half substitution

The Owls fell to a frustrating 1-0 defeat at the hands of League One strugglers, Forest Green Rovers, on Sunday in a result that saw them miss out on the opportunity to climb back to the top of the table.

Darren Moore opted to leave out both Akin Famewo and Will Vaulks for the encounter at the New Lawn, bringing Reece James and Tyreeq Bakinson into the mix on the back of the defeat to Barnsley a few days earlier.

Speaking after the game, Moore explained his reasons for the changes to the starting XI, as well as clarifying the thinking behind replacing Dominic Iorfa with Jack Hunt at half time.

“We wanted fullbacks and wingbacks out there,” he said. “Because we knew we’d have a lot of possession of the ball, and with Will coming out and Tyreeq going at the base it was a case of freshening it up.

“We had a tough game in the week in a local derby at Barnsley and three days later we had another game. The change was to try and give us some impetus…

“There were no injuries, but we were having a lot of the ball so I just wanted two fullbacks on the outside on the left and right. I thought we’d throw more attacking by putting Jack Hunt on - but it didn’t bring much.”

The Owls boss went on to criticise various aspects of his side’s play in the encounter, admitting that they didn’t do enough to come away with anything.

Moore said, “The most frustrating thing for me was that we didn’t use the ball as effectively as we could. We got into areas, and there were wrong decisions, wrong touches on the pass, wrong weights on the pass - we didn’t have it today…

“The way I look at it is that we didn’t do enough to win the game.”

Next up for the Owls is a trip to Cheltenham Town on Wednesday evening in their latest bid to reclaim top spot in the third tier table.

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