'Basic level of humanity' - Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen's emotional reaction to Birmingham City draw
Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen admitted to mixed emotions after his side’s draw with Birmingham City.
In the build-up to the game, Owls players and staff had again been told to expect delays with their wage payments.
It marked a continuation of turbulence at Hillsborough, which is showing no signs of slowing down.
Despite the chaos, Wednesday’s players rallied to secure a 2-2 draw away in the Midlands. Goals from Jamal Lowe and George Brown had the Owls 2-1 up in the dying embers, only for Demarai Gray to strike nine minutes into stoppage time.
Henrik Pedersen’s reaction
Pedersen said: “My emotions are a little bit mixed. The negative is that we have lost two points at the end. But in the big picture, there is a very proud emotion inside me because of the performance my players have delivered today in a difficult situation.
“We conceded a goal and they stayed together. You can always find a reason not to do something but we stayed together. It wasn’t about tactics, tonight was about the basic level of humanity.”
With Wednesday in the midst of such turmoil, it is difficult to level any criticism at performances on the pitch.
It is essentially impossible when a threadbare squad delivers displays as gutsy as the ones Wednesday are producing.
‘Everyone knew the situation’
Pedersen said: “The referee found a lot of minutes at the end. You can be disappointed you didn’t get three points but we have to be proud of the performance in the circumstances.
“Everyone knew the situation. We haven’t spoken about it today. We have used all of our energy on the performance. If we had wasted energy on this we would have lost energy from the performance.”
Pedersen’s men sit 22nd in the Championship table, above their Steel City rivals Sheffield United and Oxford United.