A youthful Sheffield Wednesday side produced a remarkable effort to beat Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening - but it wasn’t without a sour moment.
The threadbare nature of their squad meant the Owls handed out no fewer than six senior debuts to young players at the Toughsheet Stadium against a rotated but strong League One side. Wednesday took the lead three times but were pegged back on each occasion before rising once again to win out on penalties.
One of those debutants was teenage attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who was forced off late on in the first half having sustained a heavy tackle from Bolton captain Chris Forino-Joseph. The St Lucian defender received a yellow card for the challenge, which many Wednesday fans have claimed was worthy of a red.
The 19-year-old Portuguese looked in grave discomfort and went straight down the tunnel having been replaced by Sean Fusire. He was not seen in the post-match celebrations and speaking post-match, Henrik Pedersen grimaced when describing the look of an issue saw the youngster taken to hospital. The Star understands there are initial concerns the injury is a serious one.
“I have just seen a picture,” Pedersen said. “He has a deep cut, so he had to go to the hospital and hopefully they will put it back together again. I did not see exactly what happened, so I don’t know (about the legitimacy of the tackle).”
Pedersen spoke with pride of his side’s performance and the effort of players young and old. Alongside Fernandes as fellow debutants were standout defensive pair Ernie Weaver and Joe Emery, midfielder Jarvis Thornton, goalscorer Reece Johnson and late substitute 16-year-old Yisa Alao.
“We spoke about it before the game, that it was a big evening,” the Dane said. “We had five players who had never even been in the squad before. They were in the starting 11. They will never forget this experience and to have a game like this, to have this support from the fans, it means so much.
“To see the senior players with them, supporting, speaking with them before the game from the heart, celebrating with them after the game. It is fantastic.”
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