'Big respect' - Henrik Pedersen credits Sheffield Wednesday duo after Birmingham City defeat
Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen had to bring more youngsters into the fold against Birmingham City.
Henrik Pedersen saluted Sheffield Wednesday youngsters Cole McGhee and Reece Johnson for their performances in Tuesday night’s 2-0 defeat to Birmingham City at Hillsborough.
The duo were drafted into the starting XI after injuries to Sean Fusire and Yisa Alao, who both started the weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth, missed out through injury issues, meaning Pedersen was forced into more changes across the backline.
McGhee slotted in at left-sided centre-back, meaning Liam Palmer moved over to the right, while Johnson replaced Alao at left wing-back to secure his first Championship start.
Although McGhee was guilty of making a mistake in the dying stages of the game, gift-wrapping Birmingham a second goal via substitute Kyōgo Furuhashi, he and Johnson, overall, did a solid job up against an expensively assembled Birmingham attack, which featured Wednesday nemesis Patrick Roberts.
Running the right flank, it meant Johnson, who had made six substitute appearances in the Championship prior to the visit of the Blues, had to deal with Roberts, who has history of hurting Wednesday in the past.
Pedersen applauds Owls duo
However, Pedersen was pleased with Johnson’s performance after he made 12 defensive contributions. He was also equally impressed by the way in which Johnson and McGhee, who are both 19, navigated their way through the game amid a lack of experience to their right.
”I think, again, where he's coming from, and then to play a game against Birmingham, we know the valuation of this squad and of those players, it's strong,” Pedersen said of Johnson’s performance, speaking to The Star.
“And then it's one thing to play a game as a young player, but your neighbour on the pitch is Cole, and Cole's neighbour is Gab.
“So it's not so you can look around and think, ‘Oh, I get a lot of support’. Cole and Reece, and they see Gab again, he was a good leader for them today. But big respect for Reece, big respect for Cole, how they did it.”