"He was so nervous!" How Sheffield Wednesday youth pair shook off jitters to claim big moments at Salford City
Sheffield Wednesday beat Salford City 2-1 to get their Jersey Mike’s Trophy campaign off to a winning start.
Glittering moments from two little-known Sheffield Wednesday youngsters helped turn the Owls’ EFL Trophy clash at Salford City in their favour.
Joel Akpobi and Will McPartland both made their full senior debuts in the game alongside late substitute Samuel Duruh. Wednesday battled back from a dire first half to win the clash 2-1 - with Akpobi claiming an assist for Davis Keillor-Dunn’s equaliser before McPartland played a role in winning Jamal Lowe’s winning penalty.
Akpobi in particular caught the eye with a determination to run at Salford’s defence and though not everything came off, he was the recipient of adoration from the sold-out away end when celebrating the win.
Asked about the contribution of the former Welling United youngster, Owls boss Henrik Pedersen smiled and said: “He was nervous, so nervous. But he did it really, really well... He played with a big, big courage and a big heart. Big respect for how he handled this game tonight, his first game. He did it well.
“He has trained many times with us but not too regularly. I really think he adapted to the style really, really well and defensively he did a really good job. He had good principles to go for and he did it really well. Offensively he played with courage and was ready to make a difference. Big respect to the young man.”
McPartland joined the club this summer having spent time with Middlesbrough - where he was a regular for the under-18s last season. He is among a number of players to have spent time training with Wednesday’s seniors in the last months and was at the apex of a give-and-go with huge impact substitute Callum Slattery as the Owls won the penalty that Lowe was able to slide home.
Pedersen said: “Will has been maybe a little bit down, with all young players you have a good period and then they are down. I see a Will that is on the way up again and he played a strong game today, he worked really hard defensively and offensively he started to have better and better positions. Sometimes he starts to run too much, but it is better to run too much than too little! We can work on his position but he is also going in the right direction.”