Sheffield Wednesday knocked out of cup competition after surprise result

The Owls lost to both Bradford City and Burton Albion in their opening two group games in the tournament to make it extremely unlikely that they’d be able to make it into the top two teams in their group, but a surprise result on Tuesday night has now confirmed their exit.

Leicester City’s U21s fought back from being 2-0 down at Bradford to secure a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes, and then went on to win the penalty shootout. It meant that the hosts picked up a point and the visitors picked up two – now even a heavy win for the Owls against the young Foxes could only see them go as high as third in Group H.

Wednesday play host to Leicester on October 18th in what will now be the deadest of rubbers at Hillsborough from an Owls perspective, however the visitors know that a win could potentially see them qualify if Bradford don’t beat Burton on the same evening.

The Papa John’s Trophy was never high up on Darren Moore’s list of priorities this season, however he has said previously that he was disappointed with his team’s inability to get results in the opening two fixtures given the quality at their disposal.

Defeat to Plymouth Argyle left Wednesday five points off the League One leaders and four off second place, with automatic promotion remaining their biggest goal for the 2022/23 campaign.

MORE: Like a punch to the gut - Wednesday hit late as Plymouth claim dramatic victory