Sheffield Wednesday may have beaten Portsmouth but one issue will catch Henrik Pedersen eventually

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Henrik Pedersen finally has his first league win for Sheffield Wednesday, but there is still one massive problem lurking in the background for the Owls.

A sublime free-kick from captain Barry Bannan gave Sheffield Wednesday the lead in the first half. Then, after the break, Owls youngster George Brown delighted his colleagues and fans by doubling the advantage.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
20	WatfordWatford	5	1	2	2	5	6	-1	5
21	DerbyDerby	6	1	2	3	8	12	-4	5
22	Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday	6	1	1	4	5	12	-7	4
23	Oxford UnitedOxford United	5	0	2	3	6	9	-3	2
24	Sheffield UtdSheffield Utd	6	0	0	6	1	13	-12	0

They held firm from there onwards and secured a vital three points in their fight for survival this season. With all the issues off the field right now, a win on the pitch is the perfect reprieve for Henrik Pedersen.

It’s a result made all the sweeter by the fact that fierce rivals Sheffield United are still struggling even with Chris Wilder back in the dugout. But, there are still plenty of issues for Pedersen to keep in mind.

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Alex Miller is worried about Sheffield Wednesday’s bench

While the players at the club are giving it their all, the lack of summer signings for Sheffield Wednesday is a real concern.

Indeed, Pedersen’s squad is paper-thin as it is. That matter is not helped by the fact seven Sheffield Wednesday players are out injured right now.

Commentating on the game for Sky Sports, The Star’s Alex Miller noted how restricted Pedersen was when it comes to looking at options on the bench.

Miller said: “We’ve seen that bench seven times now. It’s incredible how young they all are. You look at Gabriel Otegbayo who is warming up and he’s the old man on that bench now. He was a rookie last season. It’s nuts.”

Later in the game, Miller added: “There’s players like Sean Fusire [on the bench], who are capable of bright moments. But you want experience.”

Given Sheffield Wednesday have been hit with a new transfer embargo, the chance of solving this predicament is nigh on impossible.

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Henrik Pedersen is proud of Sheffield Wednesday players

Still, these problems are not about to tarnish the big day for Henrik Pedersen. The Sheffield Wednesday manager was positively beaming after the game, and had high praise for his players.

In his post-match interview, Pedersen said: “I’m very happy, very proud. I think it was a very intensive performance today and an intensive game.

“We had some experience in the last games where we were quickly one or two nil down, [so we needed] to give ourselves a good beginning, then we should stay in the game.

“One of the key things to win the game is how many times we could play a teammate in [at] speed behind the opponent’s defending line so a big performance to have the discipline to keep up the game plan [for] 90 minutes. I’m so proud of the boys.”