Owls manager Xisco was left frustrated for his players at Cardiff as Wednesday suffered a fourth consecutive defeat in the Championship.
With a first point of the campaign in sight after Barry Bannan had cancelled out Ike Ugbo’s early second half goal, the Owls conceded a penalty in the 97th minute.
Ryan Wintle converted from the spot to leave Wednesday empty-handed in the Welsh capital.
It was harsh on Xisco’s side, who deserved something from the game and on another day, could have taken all three points.
“But this is the Championship,” the manager said.
“You must be ready in all the minutes, the very first to the last. If you make mistakes in this league you will get punished and I have spoken about this.
“We are frustrated about the result, I think the performance was good away from home.
“We had control in the second half, we had power and showed important signs.
“We were unlucky to concede and again had bad luck in 97 minutes to receive a penalty against us and I don’t know for 100% if it was a penalty or not but after that, so late, there was nothing we could change.”
Post-match reaction from Xisco #CARSHW pic.twitter.com/llDjGPWDhG
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) August 26, 2023
Xisco continued: “I think every day we are getting better and better, our high press today was very good and there was a good level in the performance.
“I am sad for the players because I know how hard they are working every day.
“They are working hard to improve the situations. We always try to put the positive things on our list and every day they are getting closer to what we want. We will see for the next one.
“We know the level in the Championship, our second half was better and we had a control and this is why I am sad for the players because this point for us was very important.
“The team were more solid today, with a better balance in defence and attack.
“We had good chances to score and if you don’t, then after you can have problems and in the Championship, every minute and action is important from the very first to very last.”