Fruitless double dutch

 

 The 23-year-old struck twice but the Owls crashed out

Sheffield Wednesday were knocked out of the Carling Cup at the first hurdle last night following a penalty shootout defeat to local rivals Rotherham United.

Dutch winger, Etienne Esajas twice put Wednesday into the lead at Hillsborough.

The first came after just 14 minutes, a lovely angled drive into the bottom left hand corner of Andy Warrington’s goal. However, just 9 seconds later Alex Rhodes ran straight through the Wednesday back four to pass home a through ball from the ever present Pablo Mills.

Esajas’ second came deep into the second half of extra time. A curling free kick which was also planted into the bottom left hand corner  following the sending off of Marc Joseph. This had Owls fans tails up.

But the Millers struck back yet again through former Plymouth striker Rueben Reed.

This saw the match go to penalties and Esajas was the only player to miss, which saw the Millers march on and earn some much needed cash.

Owls boss Brian Laws admitted that he doesn’t have as much strength in depth as he would like. He told BBC Radio Sheffield: “We’re pretty much down to the bare bones and it just shows you we’re wafer thin here”

He continued: “That first half we could have won three games, we hit the bar three times.”

Meanwhile, there has still been no news regarding Geoff Sheard’s takeover at S6. Wednesdayite agreed to sell their 10% stake in the club last week but there have been no official developments.