Stuart Gray praised his side’s battling qualities after earning a draw in a hard-fought and, at times, bad-tempered clash with Millwall.
With Wednesday one-up through Giles Coke’s 68th minute goal, the home side and their fans were fired up by referee Lee Probert’s decision to turn down a possible penalty soon afterwards, resulting in a bottle being thrown at Chris Kirkland.
Sub DJ Campbell hit the equaliser 0n 79 minutes on his debut and there was a further flashpoint when Giles Coke and Millwall’s Shane Lowry were sent off late in the game. Lowry appeared to stamp on Coke and the Wednesday man reacted by pushing him, sparking off a fracas between several players and leading to another object thrown onto the pitch.
Gray said: “Their players are putting in an unbelievable shift for Ian Holloway – but not as much as our lads are doing for me.
“Credit to the players. They put their bodies on the line and not many teams are going to come here and be able to match that tempo and intensity.”
He said he was disappointed with Coke’s reaction to being fouled, saying the player should have walked away from the initial incident and let the referee deal with the situation.
There was also some controversy surrounding Millwall’s equaliser, with striker Steve Morison lying injured in the penalty area with a head injury but referee Probert deciding to allow play to continue, leading to Campbell’s goal.
Gray said refs usually blow up in such circumstances and that Morison was probably in keeper Kirkland’s way.
The Owls head coach added: “We probably had enough chances to get a second goal on the break.”