- Owls beaten 2-1 by FC Arsenal Tula
- Good workout for Stuart Gray's side
- Slovenian tour comes to an end
The Owls continued their pre-season schedule with a 2-1 defeat against newly-promoted Russian side FC Arsenal Tula in Maribor.
Played in sweltering sunshine in Slovenia, Wednesday took the lead through Michail Antonio just three minutes in.
But the Owls were pegged back on the counter five minutes later as Tula scored from their first attack through Alexey Bazanov.
Atdhe Nuhiu hit the bar right on half time and the Russians went on to nick victory with a fierce strike from substitute Vladislav Ryzhkov five minutes from the end.
The Owls were off to a perfect start when, after Chris Maguire forced a fine save from Filimonov, they hit the front with a low Antonio shot.
Antonio cut inside his marker and brushed another challenge aside to drill home into the bottom corner.
But the Owls were pegged back only five minutes after the restart.
A deep feed from Andrei Vasilev found Bazanov, who chipped calmly over the advancing Keiren Westwood.
Wednesday picked up three yellow cards through the remainder of the first half – Mattock, Maguire and Slovenian trialist Dejan Kelhar – as the game threatened to boil over.
But the Owls almost found the perfect response right on the half time whistle when Antonio teed up Nuhiu only for the striker to slam against the crossbar.
The second half took second billing after the flurry of incident before the break, with chances at a premium for either side.
There was one big talking point minutes after the restart, though, when Alexander Kutin went down after a seemingly harmless coming together with Giles Coke and the referee duly showed a yellow card to the striker.
The remainder of the second period saw both teams make a flurry of changes in typical pre-season style and the game probably lost its momentum as a result.
Then, with five minutes to go and the friendly looking like a stalemate, Ryzhkov drilled a whistling shot past Joe Wildsmith following a swift Tula counter.
Owls: Westwood (Wildsmith 76), Palmer, Mattock (Helan 70), Hutchinson, Kelhar, Loovens (Zayatte 63), Maguire, Coke, (Corry 82) Nuhiu (Maghoma 70), Madine, Antonio