Dave Jones rued the two goals that saw Burnley steal into a first half lead and ultimately take three points back to Turf Moor.
Two headed strikes from Danny Ings and Sam Vokes gave the Clarets what proved an unassailable advantage as David Prutton’s reply proved fruitless.
Jones said: “I can give as many reasons or excuses as you want but the truth is we didn’t perform as well as we can in the first half but in the second half we showed there is plenty to work with at this club.
“But we didn’t stop the crosses in for their two goals and we have to be better than that. We scored our goal from a similar passage of play and it shows that the art of crossing and heading is not dead.
“Atdhe (Nuhiu) had two headers that went really close and their keeper made a fantastic save from the second chance.
“It shows that if you get the supply to the lad he can get on the end of it.”
Jones added that far from feeling sorry for themselves following three successive defeats, the Owls will pick themselves up in preparation for the Yorkshire derby with Leeds next weekend.
He said: “We have plenty of ability in this squad and plenty of confidence so there is no need for anyone to panic or overreact.
“The League Cup game is in isolation and I have seen enough in the two league games so far to suggest that we will be back on track.
“We had a few players making home debuts today, a few kids in the squad, and a few senior players missing who we need to get back.
“But we will work hard, we will keep going and we will get there.”