Wednesday were edged out of the Championship clash against Ipswich at Portman Road but despite defeat, head coach Carlos Carvalhal is proud of his players.
The Owls pushed Ipswich all the way but could not find a late leveller after goals from Freddie Sears and Tommy Smith cancelled out Ross Wallace’s first goal for the club.
Carvalhal says his players remain upbeat after an encouraging performance against last season’s play-off semi finalists and insists his side will respond on Wednesday at home to Reading:
“I’m unhappy with the score but I’m proud of what the players did out there today.
“I was also proud of our fans who came here with a lot of enthusiasm and helped the team to press for the last ten minutes very hard.
“The most important thing is that our players are not in the dressing room with their faces down, they have their heads up and they will react very quickly to give a good answer on Wednesday.
“We are back at Hillsborough on Wednesday and we are very happy about that.”
Wednesday suffered with injuries in Suffolk as Keiren Westwood was withdrawn in the second half, while Glenn Loovens and Sam Hutchinson were both below par on the fitness front.
Carvalhal added: “We had three players with injury problems with Westwood, Hutchinson and Loovens so it was very hard to change things because within moments we had to substitute Westwood and Sam.
“So it was difficult to try and do something different to the opponent but we had two strikers and put on Kieran Lee to add energy to the midfield to press and put Ipswich under pressure.
“We created chances from crosses and one from Lucas Joao outside the area but we are not down and the way our fans applauded the players at the end, we are ready to give a good answer on Wednesday.”