The Owls drew 0-0 against Wigan Athletic on Saturday

Jaden Heskey will feature in Sheffield Wednesday’s under-21 match against Charlton Athletic this weekend after being left out of the first-team’s goalless draw against Wigan Athletic.

The Owls were held to a frustrating point against the lowly visitors at Hillsborough on Saturday. It was a game of two halves, with Wednesday the better team in the first 45, while Wigan were on top after the break. Both sides could have won it in added-time but it finished in a stalemate.

The headline from the team news was the absence of Heskey, who rejoined Wednesday on a season loan from Manchester City at the end of the transfer window. After playing against Wycombe Wanderers and Peterborough United, Heskey’s name was left off the team-sheet for the Wigan clash.

Since The Owls have six loan players, and rules state clubs can only select five in a matchday squad, one was always going to be left out and Henrik Pedersen opted to pick others over Heskey this time.

“We have six (loan players) and we can only do five,” he explained. “With a home game today, we put all the offensive players on the bench. Then if we wanted to change Barry (Bannan) or Billy (Mitchell), then we could also put (Callum) Slattery down (into central midfield).”

Despite missing out against Wigan, Pedersen revealed that Heskey will play against Charlton for the under-21s at Hillsborough on Sunday lunchtime in a game which Di’Shon Bernard is set to make his long-awaited return from injury.

“It was a tough decision because he's a strong player,” Pedersen continued. *He will play tomorrow and then he'll be back in our training on Tuesday.”

When asked how Heskey reacted to being left out, Pedersen added: “He took it really, really well. He's disappointed and it's okay, but he took it really, really well.”

Wednesday remain top of League One despite the draw and are back on home turf next weekend against Stockport County.