Sheffield Wednesday 1 Bolton Wanderers 2: Tinkering is still not reaping rewards for Jones

Only one of the starting XI from Saturday’s home defeat to Bolton Wanderers – the Owls’ fourth consecutive defeat, and second home loss in four days – survived from the team which won promotion from League One back on May 5.

And that was Michail Antonio, the loan winger who Jones signed on a permanent deal in the summer for a fee approaching £1m.

Saturday’s substitute’s bench was like a who’s who from that memorable win over Wycombe last season which saw Wednesday pip their city rivals United for the second automatic promotion spot.

Goalkeeper Stephen Bywater – still the only man to keep a clean sheet for the Owls this season in their Capital One Cup defeat of Fulham – axed captain Jose Semedo, last season’s top scorer Gary Madine, Mark Beevers, Jermaine Johnson, Miguel Llera and Chris O’Grady were all on the sidelines to witness Bolton take a deserved win with goals from Marcos Alonso and Mark Davies. On-loan Everton teenager Ross Barkley replied with a second-half penalty.

Jones made six changes to the side which lost to Huddersfield Town in midweek, Kieran Lee handed his debut in a new-look defence as the Owls looked to halt an alarming run which has seen them concede at least two goals in every Championship game so far this season.

That meant fellow new signings Martin Taylor and Anthony Gardner partnering up in the centre of defence, and Daniel Jones drafted in at left-back.

Against Bolton there were glimpses of defensive cohesion with Lee and Gardner impressing, but the visitors spurned several gilt-edged chances to open the scoring, Chris Eagles being the worst culprit when he stabbed wide in front of goal.

As for Wednesday’s attacking intent, Antonio again was their most potent threat down the flanks.

But in Jay Bothroyd (still looking less than match fit after a lean time at QPR) and Rodri (the Spanish striker is still adapting to the English game) Wednesday offered little cutting edge.

One-time England striker Bothroyd was booed after being substituted late in the game, and the striker responded on Twitter: “(sic) Boo all you want I didn’t get any chances I was up top alone. And I hobbled off cause I got injured ! #imascapegoat right now.

“(sic) Bit of effort ??? I won every flick on, should I get my own flicks aswell ill accept criticism today I didn’t deserve it.

“I’m going to stop interacting with the fans now until the sad ones stop tweeting rubbish.”

It all adds up to what Jones tags “a work in progress” and the Owls manager has called for unity ahead of a daunting run of fixtures.

They travel to Premier League side Southampton tomorrow night – the first of three consecutive away trips, the others being Wolves and Burnley – before Yorkshire derbies against Hull City and Leeds United.

“The players are feeling hard done by at the moment because nothing is going right but it’s no use me getting on their backs or anyone else,” said Jones.

“The only way we will get out of this is by everyone sticking together and everyone staying strong.

“We knew the Championship was going to be a tough division this season and that’s the way it’s turning out. We had a good start and maybe some people got carried away but make no mistake, this is a hard division.

“But we have good players and we will get out of this slide. Today, if we had gone in at half time 0-0, that would have been a massive boost because we would have had something to build on.

“But again, we are chasing the game and then when we do get back into it, they go up the other end and score almost straight away.

“That’s because we started playing at 100 miles per hour, we take a throw-in, we lose the ball and Bolton go on and score.”

Wednesday were undone for the first goal from a corner kick just before half-time, Alonso allowed to rise and head home.

A trip on Gardner handed Wednesday a lifeline, Barkley slotting home the resulting penalty, but just four minutes later the Wednesday rearguard split invitingly for Bolton’s Mark Davies to waltz through and beat Chris Kirkland with ease.

Barkley – who struck the post with an early free-kick – and Rhys McCabe made for a young central midfield pairing, but Jones was pleased with their first-half display. “I thought the two young lads in midfield did really well in the first half, then we lost Rhys at half time with a thigh strain and that’s the way things are going for us at the moment,” he said.

“That was Kieran Lee’s first game for us and he grew into the game as it went on.”

Defeat leaves Wednesday fourth from bottom and Jones will know he has to bring a swift end to their current losing streak if he is to rescue the feel-good factor which attracted more than 26,000 into Hillsborough on Saturday following a summer of optimism.

Sheffield Wednesday: Kirkland, Lee, Taylor, Gardner, Jones, Antonio, Barkley, McCabe (Semedo 46), Pecnik, Bothroyd (O’Grady 75), Rodri (J Johnson 57). Unused substitutes: Bywater, Beevers, Llera, Madine.

Bolton: Bogdan, Mears, Alonso, Mills, Eagles, Andrews (Pratley 90), Ngog (Afobe 66), Knight, M Davies, K Davies, Spearing. Unused substitutes: Lonergan, Petrov, Warnock, Ricketts, Lee.

Referee: K Stroud (Hampshire).