Gary Hooper was ruled out through injury before Wednesday under-23s went down 3-1 at home to their Sheff U counterparts on Friday evening.
Hooper, out for nine months with a hip problem, had planned to play the full 90 minutes after two shorter runouts for the academy side but was sidelined after picking up a groin injury in the second of the games … at Leeds earlier this week.
Jos Luhukay said he hopes Hooper will be back in full training next week.
On the pitch, three goals in an 18-minute spell during the first half took the game away from our youngsters and, although Liam Waldock pulled a goal back just before the break, that was as good as it got for Wednesday on the night.
McCulloch, Hughes, West (Dawodu 62), J. Lee (Lonchar 81), O’Grady, Brennan, Stobbs, Jones, Borukov, Grant, Waldock (Rice 72).