The Sheffield Wednesday Under-21s were beaten 4-1 by Crewe Alexandra on Wednesday afternoon.
The home side led 3-0 at the half time and strengthened their grip on the game after the break by adding a fourth before promising Owls youngster Caolan Lavery pulled a goal back for Wednesday in the final minute.
Development coach Lee Bullen said: “After such a good performance against Birmingham in our first game, this result has brought the lads back down to earth.
“We were below our usual standards today and the boys know that. Crewe is a difficult place to go at the best of times but we never really turned up and were second best in many areas.
“Caolan scored a fine solo goal which was a positive for him as he keeps up his goal-scoring run.
“The lads are very disappointed but they are young and will learn from an experience like this. We’ll get back to the drawing board because we know we are better than what we showed today.”