Bright sparks and a concussion as Sheffield Wednesday fall to superior Wolverhampton Wanderers

“It’s enough to drive you crazy, if you let it,” sang the now sadly late, great Dolly Parton.

Kieran Morrison in action for Sheffield Wednesday. Image: Alex Young

Sheffield Wednesday have been through a lot over the last year or so. They’ve been through a lot over the last three decades, really…

And while a second defeat on the spin was disappointing, it felt like another evening where a bit of realism around the Owls’ current state was required. Despite the fact that Ali Al-Hamadi - who was at Hillsborough for the game - is due to become signing number 16, Wednesday still look incredibly light.

Three of their attacking four are aged 19 or under, and the man chosen to lead the line is just 23. There’s more experience in the defensive sector, which makes the nature of the goals conceded admittedly more frustrating, but it’s still a squad in the midst of a heavy transition.

Ultimately, it was a Championship team against a League One team, and for large chunks of the game it showed. Wolverhampton Wanderers were in the Premier League a few months ago, while many Owls in Henrik Pedersen’s XI are taking their first steps in the professional game.

Things couldn’t have started worse, to be honest. A cross-field ball evaded Liam Palmer in the third minute, and while Joe Lumley got in the way of Tawanda Chirewa’s shot, it ricocheted off Sil Swinkels and into the back of the net. 1-0 with not even 180 seconds on the clock.

Wednesday actually responded well to going behind, though. Will Grainger showed some nice little sparks of quality, Mason Burstow pressed well, while Kieran Morrison and Harry Gray looked a real handful at times.

The young Liverpool loanee was probably the brightest, getting off a couple of shots on goal, but Jose Sa was never really troubled. In midfield, Billy Mitchell got some more important minutes in his legs and put himself about nicely.

Jarvis Thornton was booked early on, and that didn’t help his cause against a Wolves side that handed new signing, Jordan James, his first start.

The gap in quality was clear, but the Owls held relatively firm. Reece James made one excellent tackle on his second Wednesday debut, and it looked like they’d keep the scoreline to one heading into the break.

That’s when Tommy Doyle whipped in a dangerous ball into the Wednesday box that caught out Ricardo Santos, and allowed Saheed Olagunju a free header - which he gladly took. 2-0, and already it felt like too much of a mountain to climb for the hosts.

The second half lacked any real oomph as Wolves seemed to sit on their 2-0 lead. They did bring on a host of subs that included the likes of Marshall Munetsi and Raul Jimenez, but with just over an hour gone it really did feel like it was game over.

Barry Bannan, Gabriel Otegbayo and Louie Barry came on for the Owls as Will Grainger, Ricardo Santos and Billy Mitchell soon made way, and not long afterwards we saw Max Lowe replace Swinkels at the back.

The changes did help, and the Barries didn’t take long to cause a few problems. One such case saw Bannan find his new teammate, who cut inside only to see his effort flash past the far post. It was better from the hosts, but not close enough.

Devlan Moses was the next change, coming on for Morrison a couple of days after opening his account for the season in a 1-1 draw against Bristol City’s U21s, and Wednesdayites will have liked what they saw from the man he replaced.

Jamal Lowe was the final substitution, which was allowed after Harry Gray sustained a head injury and went straight down the tunnel, but it was never going to change the result. He did have one effort on goal, but again Sa was relatively untroubled.

This season was always going to have its troubles for Wednesday, who are now able to focus on their usual 9-5 of League One after dropping out of the cup. Things will get better eventually, but it’s going to take time.

As the world mourns a musical great, I’ll end with another of her quotes: “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”

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