Henrik Pedersen praised Sheffield Wednesday's unity and defensive grit for seeing them through their League Cup second-round tie at home to Leeds United.
A side which retained only Ethan Horvath, the Owls' only fit senior goalkeeper, from Saturday's Championship game had two starters and a substitute making their debuts in senior football and five others who had also never started a league game.
But they defended heroically to take Premier League Leeds to penalties after a 1-1 draw despite seeing only 20 per cent of the ball all night.
In the shoot-out, experienced substitutes Barry Bannan, Ike Ugbo and Liam Palmer all found the net whilst Horvath saved from Joel Piroe and Sean Longstaff, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin blazed over as the hosts progressed 3-0.
Leeds had 25 of the 31 shots in the game, but a side with an average age of 20.5 at kick-off kept going right to the end, even after substitute Jayden Bogle cancelled out Jamal Lowe's fortunate goal.
Add being thrown into the difficult situation at Hillsborough, where only 4,100 home fans defied a boycott in protest against chairman/owner Dejphon Chansiri.
"I'm really, really proud of this performance," said manager Pedersen.
"On Tuesday we trained our defensive stuff. On Wednesday we spoke about the offensive stuff.
PRIDE: Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)placeholder image
PRIDE: Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
"We knew it (defending) was the priority because we wouldn't have the ball so much but we had big passion, big discipline, big belief.
"They played this defensive game and it was amazing. Of course you need a little bit of luck in a game like this.
"Our goalkeeper was amazing. He had a difficult first game in Wrexham but he made a big step today.
"I was really proud with how much discipline and passion they played with. We tired but they kept on going and how they helped and supported each other was amazing."
The draw for the third round takes place after Grimsby Town's televised game against Manchester United on Wednesday.