Sheffield Wednesday’s manager Danny Röhl praised his side’s performance as the Owls held Brentford to a 1-1 draw in the EFL Cup before losing on penalties.
Röhl’s outfit went 1-0 down after just 11 minutes and were on the back foot in the opening 45 minutes, facing nine shots. However, the Owls battled back and Djeidi Gassama levelled in the 57th minute before a 6-5 defeat in the penalty shootout.
Sheffield Wednesday Showed “Big Character”
Coming away from the Brentford with something was a big ask for Sheffield Wednesday. The Bees have won six of their seven fixtures on home turf and remain unbeaten at the Gtech Stadium this season.
But Röhl explained to the Sheffield Star post-match that he had nothing but pride for his team, especially considering how well Brentford are performing. In addition, the German coach made nine changes due to the Owl’s fixture pile-up up and he was impressed by his side’s togetherness.
It was an outstanding performance. We know this is a tough place and Thomas has a team that is doing really well in the Premier League, it’s a tough place.
You see how many changes we did in the starting 11, we had to, we had a Saturday, Tuesday again and then a Saturday, Tuesday, Sunday. We have a lot of games ahead. My team did outstanding, how they connected.
Despite trailing at half time, Sheffield Wednesday improved after the break. Gassama’s equaliser gave the Championship side momentum and they could have snatched the win if Mark Flekken wasn’t in such good form. Röhl highlighted his side’s character to come back into the contest and even said finishing in the ascendency felt like a victory.
There was the decision-making on the ball. We showed big, big character to stay in the game. For me this was key and we spoke in the past about conceding an early goal, you never know, but we stayed in our match plan. We did more and more of what he had to do and I take the draw as a win for the team.
Writer’s View
Röhl has every right to be pleased with the way his side took on an in-form Brentford side in the EFL Cup. Kevin Schade’s early goal gave Sheffield Wednesday an early fight. But the way they recovered and took the game to the Bees in the second period was impressive, earning the highest praise from Röhl.
