'We'd have lost...' - Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen makes Owls admission after rare clean sheet
Henrik Pedersen admitted that the game against Blackburn Rovers is one that his side probably would have lost a few weeks ago.
The Owls played the Riversiders on Monday evening as the two locked horns at Hillsborough in a hard-fought encounter that saw the spoils shared with a 0-0 draw. Both teams had chances to break the deadlock on the night, but neither was able to make them count.
For Wednesday it brought to an end a horrible year on home soil that has seen them win just two matches in 90 minutes and lose 15 of 26 matches. The draw did, however, make sure that they kept their first home clean sheet in just over a year, signalling how long their form has been a problem at S6.
Henrik Pedersen was pleased with Sheffield Wednesday
This season does come with caveats galore, of course, and once more against Blackburn the Dane was forced to call upon academy kids to come in and help the cause. Cole McGhee, for instance, was handed a last-minute start after Liam Cooper had to drop out - and Pedersen was delighted with how his side held their own.
“It was a tough evening,” he told The Star. “With a very young team and four senior players and seven young guys. I think it was another evening where the boys did everything that they could with their heart for the club, for the fans, for everyone. It was a typical game that we’d have lost five or six or seven weeks ago. But we’ve got a point tonight, and I think we have to be proud of this…
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“The boys were not fresh, but I liked how they stuck together and kept their tactical discipline. Of course we would like to press higher up the pitch, but when you don’t have the energy to do it then it’s about being very compact defensively in a deep block. I think how the boys did that today was really good.
“In the first half we also had some dangerous transitions where we could’ve maybe done a little bit more to get more out of it, but we also finished the game when they were really tired but together. They kept on going, and I think in this way it’s a good game.”
Next up is a trip to Preston North End for the first game of what will hopefully be a brighter year for the Owls, but they’ll be stretched again as Pedersen weighs up who’ll be available at Deepdale.