A battling Wednesday side bowed out of the Carabao Cup after losing 5-4 in a penalty shootout at Premier League Brentford this evening.
With the sides locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes, the Bees went first in the shootout and scored all five of their spot kicks while Michael Smith, Josh Windass, Jamal Lowe and Marvin Johnson all converted their penalties.
That left it at 5-4 to Brentford, Liam Palmer then stepped up with our fifth kick but saw his penalty saved by keeper Mark Flekken to send them through to the last eight.
Danny Rohl said afterwards: “The 1-1 draw was a fantastic result and shootouts are always 50-50. It was a shame we didn’t go through but I am very proud of my team.”
It was an unlikely ending to a tie that saw the hosts in cruise control for 55 minutes against an understrength Wednesday side, Rohl having left out several regular first-teamers from the starting line-up with an upcoming three-game Championship week clearly in his mind.
Brentford got off to just the start they wanted, Kevin Schade bursting clear and, although Pierce Charles saved his first effort, it rebounded off defender Gabriel Otegbayo and Schade was able to turn home the loose ball.
We rarely posed any problems for the Bees during that first 45 minutes and the home side could have been further ahead with Charles pushing over the bar from Keane Lewis-Potter and also saving a fierce Bryan Mbeumo effort.
However, the game was turned on its head on 57 minutes when Djeidi Gassama took advantage of a poor throw out by Flekken, striding forward and then hitting a low 25-yarder past the keeper into the corner of the net … and in front of the sellout Wednesday contingent behind the goal.
Rohl brought on five ‘first-teamer subs’ during the next 10 minutes in Palmer, Di’Shon Bernard, Jamal Lowe, Smith and Windass and suddenly it was Wednesday who had the upper hand.
Ike Ugbo forced a save out of Flekken with an angled drive while Charles, who looked confident throughout and won the Carabao Cup man of the match award, saved well from Mbeumo and Schade to keeper the scores level.
Marvin Johnson then brought a tipover save out of Flekken as the tie swung from end-to-end in the closing stages before the lottery of the penalty shootout which, while ending in disappointment for the Owls, was a night when they could look back on an excellent second-half display against top tier opposition.
Charles, Iorfa (Bernard 59), Otegbayo, M Lowe, Johnson, Paterson, Ingelsson, Fusire (Palmer 59), Gassama (Smith 69), Musaba (Windass 69), Ugbo (J Lowe 69). Unused subs: Hamer, Barrett, Reed, McNeill.