Already resigned to being without talisman Akpo Sodje for two months due to a ruptured knee tendon suffered in the 4-1 opening day win against Burnley, Brian Laws was left to rue his luck when fellow striker Marcus Tudgay pulled up in training with a thigh strain.

That will leave him on the sidelines for two weeks, and with recuperating Francis Jeffers only pencilled in to make a reserves appearance next week, Laws has little option but to play Deon Burton and Leon Clarke up front against Wolverhampton on Saturday.

The manager was so fearful one of them could pick up an injury, Laws even withdrew Burton after an hour of the shock Carling Cup defeat to Rotherham United to "wrap him in cotton wool".

While Laws was keen to remain positive after the final whistle on Tuesday, he knows the elongated summer takeover has hampered his squad strengthening – only James O'Connor has been signed this summer, that on a free transfer, with youngster Jimmy Smith joining on loan from Chelsea.

"I had to bring Deon Burton off because Marcus Tudgay has picked up a thigh strain which could keep him out for a couple of weeks. It means we have to wrap our strikers up in cotton wool and it shows that our squad is paper thin," he said.

Just like Saturday against Burnley, Wednesday were quick out of the blocks and could have been 4-0 up inside seven minutes, striking the woodwork four times overall and having a 'goal' from Clarke somewhat harshly ruled out for pushing.

But both times they did break down a stubborn Millers resistance, through the excellent Etienne Esajas who was a constant threat down the left flank and unlucky his miss cost his side the penalty shoot-out, the Owls defence seemed to switch off as Rotherham twice hit back to level within minutes.

"We made a lot of changes and for the right reasons because one or two of our players are carrying knocks. We had enough out there to win the game though and in the first half we could have won three games," added Laws, who had to rest Richard Hinds and Jermaine Johnson after they picked up knocks.

"We created plenty of chances and hit the crossbar three times, we had a massive amount of possession and it was too much possession in the end because we passed the ball side to side rather than go direct with it.

"Rotherham defended well but they reacted to conceding a goal very quickly. They scored immediately after we had scored and we had been on top of the game.

"Then we scored two minutes before the end of the match and we conceded again. It is disappointing but if it was going to happen I would want it to happen in a game like this rather than a league game and it gives us something to work on because we have become vulnerable from going in front."