Bailey Cadamarteri hit a double away at Birmingham on Monday afternoon but Wednesday fell to defeat by the odd goal in five.

The young striker took his brace well but it wasn’t enough for the Under-21s at the ARMCO Arena, who went down 3-2 against a strong Blues outfit which included several senior players.

Facing the likes of Neil Etheridge, George Friend, Jobe Bellingham, Jonathan Leko and Lukas Jutkiewicz, who were all named in the starting XI, the youthful Owls side were up against it from the off.

But it was Wednesday who opened the scoring through Cadamarteri after 20 minutes.

Fed through on goal by Leojo Davidson, Cadamarteri opted to round the former Cardiff goalkeeper but was denied by a good stop before reacting quickly to the loose ball, cutting back inside and firing home.

The goal sparked Birmingham into life, who responded well to go in at the break 3-1 up.

Jordan Graham’s low free kick had the beating of Luke Jackson to bring the game level on 27 minutes and five minutes later, Leko turned the game on its head with a powerful angled drive.

Experienced striker Jutkiewicz nodded home six yards out from a deflected Leko attempt two minutes into first half stoppage time.

To Wednesday’s credit, the youngsters refused to give in and gave the hosts cause for concern after the break.

Cadamarteri showed his threat again eight minutes after the restart after getting in behind the backline, still with plenty to do, the striker kept his composure to advance into the box and cut inside onto his left foot to drill beyond the despairing Etheridge.

Given the strength of the side, City were understandably good value for the points but they had to endure a nervy finish which saw substitute Devlan Moses denied one-v-one with the goalkeeper at the death.

Wednesday are back at Hillsborough next Monday (31 October, 12 noon k/o) facing Peterborough United.

Owls: Jackson, Agbontohoma, Ashman (Maltby 77), Adetoro, Sesay (Phuthi 82), Aguas, Shipston, Glover, Fusire (Moses 90), Cadamarteri, Davidson