Short of breath and out of favour - why Sheffield Wednesday pair missed out on Ipswich Town selection
Two prominent Sheffield Wednesday forwards were absent from the matchday squad that lost to Ipswich Town on Saturday - for differing reasons.
The Owls lost out to two late goals against the promotion-chasing Tractor Boys after a battling effort ran out of puff as Kieran McKenna was able to ring the changes with substitutions of real quality in the final half hour.
Top scorer Charlie McNeill was not named in the matchday squad for only the second time in Championship football this season. His absence was due to illness, with Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen telling The Star a chest issue had left him unable to breathe well.
Jamal Lowe and Jerry Yates led the line for Wednesday with Jaden Heskey playing a more advanced role. In terms of attacking substitutions, Joel Ndala was brought off the bench - as were youngsters Devlan Moses and Will Grainger late on. That left no room for Ike Ugbo, who has played only 31 minutes of senior action since before Christmas and has been turned to under-21 football in search of sharpness in recent weeks.
“We knew today that it's the third game in a week and we need to have a double up in as many positions as possible,” Pedersen said on the Canada international. “That's why we also have two central midfielders today. And we could have one less striker and then I took Dev (Moses).”
Asked how Ugbo is handling life as a back-up option, the Dane said: “Yeah, I mean, he tries to do what he can in the training. He's working as he can. But right now we have Jamal (Lowe), he's very strong. We have Jerry (Yates), he's very strong. We have Dev who has made eight goals in three games. So there's competition in this way and soon George (Brown will also come back. Hopefully he (Brown) is back after the national team break.”