Wednesday turned in a shocker of a display in a 2-0 defeat at struggling Notts County tonight.

If we were expecting an Owls side full of confidence after Saturday’s emphatic 5-0 success, we were soon brought back down to earth with the unchanged side looking sluggish almost from the first kick … and it just got worse as the 90 minutes unfolded.

We suffered an early blow when Di’Shon Bernard went down with what looked like a knee injury after blocking a County shot and he was subbed following a lengthy stoppage.

At the other end, the home side soon caused us problems, Rory Finneran sending a 20-yard free kick over the bar before Conor Grant missed a great chance to put them ahead on 20 minutes when he ran clear but clipped wide.

However, the goal that the home side threated came on 38 minutes  when Gabriel Otegbayo needlessly pulled down Daniel Kanu in the box and the Notts County striker recovered to fire home from the spot kick.

Harry Gray dragged a low shot wide from the edge of the box soon afterwards but that was as good as it got in the first 45 minutes for Wednesday.

Any hopes of a second-half revival were soon dealt a big blow just five minutes after the restart when Jamal Lowe’s heavy touch saw him lunge for the ball in a challenge on Jacob Bedeau and he was shown a straight red card.

That set the scene for a last 40 minutes of virtually no threat from Wednesday while Notts County managed to create but miss some decent chances.

Ashley Maynard-Brewer saved from Kanu and Callum Roberts while our only opening came 12 minutes from time when Liam Cooper headed wide at the far post from a Kieran Morrison cross.

And County finally made it 2-0 10 minutes from time when Darius Lipsiuc was allowed plenty of space on the right-hand side, striding forward to shoot past Maynard-Brewer and seal a well-deserved three points.

Wednesday failed to get a shot on target in a lifeless and spineless 90 minutes and, although we remain in sixth place and four points behind joint leaders Stockport and Huddersfield, the result leaves Henrik Pedersen with much to ponder after seeing the same players from Saturday’s five-goal victory turn in such a shocking display just a few days later.

Maynard-Brewer, Valery, Cooper, Bernard (Otegbayo 14, Morrison 78), James (M.Lowe 56), Heskey, Bannan (Mitchell 56), Gray, Slattery (Ali Al Hamadi 46), Keillor-Dunn, J. Lowe. Unused subs: Trueman, Palmer. Attendance: 12, 523.