Why Sheffield Wednesday ‘had’ to leave Dominic Iorfa out v Gillingham

Iorfa made his first start of the year in the 1-1 draw with Accrington Stanley last week, but after making it through his first 90 minutes since October he was left on the bench for the trip to the Priestfield Stadium.

In his absence it was Chey Dunkley, making his first appearance since the 5-0 defeat to Sunderland in December, who was handed a starting berth alongside Sam Hutchinson and Jordan Storey, with the back three getting their job done as they kept another clean sheet.

But there were some eyebrows raised as to why Iorfa, who had spoken to the media in the build-up to the game, was left out of the XI, and his manager explained the situation after the disappointing 0-0 draw.

When asked about the defender’s situation, Moore said, “We had to leave Dominic out because he suffered a bit of soreness after the two games, so we had to leave him out. After losing both Lewis Gibson and Liam Palmer, the last thing I wanted to do was lose a third defender – so Chey came back in.”

Gibson and Palmer have both been ruled out for ‘three to four weeks’ after they both picked up muscle injuries this month, however the return of Harlee Dean against the Gills does give Moore another option to choose from when picking his backline for the visit of Cheltenham Town this weekend.

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