- Owls Under-21s defeated 3-1 by Matlock Town
- Mani Dieseruvwe on target for Wednesday
- Lee Bullen feels physical test will benefit youngsters
The Owls Under-21s were defeated 3-1 by a physical Matlock Town side on Wednesday evening at Causeway Lane.
Danny Holland gave the home side an early lead after three minutes and Leon Osborne doubled the advantage with a neat finish moments later.
Emmanuel Dieseruvwe fired Wednesday back into the contest midway through the second half.
The 19-year-old controlled well from Ryan Croasdale’s feed, spun on the edge of the area and his deflected shot nestled into the bottom corner.
Matlock, though, quickly stopped the Owls in their tracks and regained the two-goal cushion almost instantly.
Oscar Radford planted his firm header beyond Cameron Dawson from a corner to seal the victory.
Owls coach Lee Bullen said: “The lads have had a couple of tough days training and then took on this match against another physically stronger opposition that certainly know the cute ways of playing men's football.
“This group is getting taught a lot of physical lessons away from academy football.
“They showed some resilience in the second half and at 3-1, we had three glorious opportunities to score.
“These are fantastic experiences for our young players. We had two 16-year-old scholars, two 17-year-olds and three 18-year-olds who played the majority of the match and they have the bumps and bruises to prove it!”