Wednesday managed to get one over on their former manager on Tuesday night as Di’Shon Bernard’s goal proved to be enough to book their spot in the next round of the Carabao Cup, and while they didn’t manage to get a second goal they very rarely looked in any sort of trouble.
Both managers had made a number of changes from their respective games at the weekend, with Danny Röhl swapping out every position on the night, and though Bruce admitted that their Championship opponents were ‘bigger’ and ‘stronger’, he felt his own team held their own.
“It’s very difficult because we’ve only trained a few times,” he said afterwards. “But I was delighted with the performance on Saturday, and they worked their socks off all night without producing in the final third… There wasn’t much in it ability-wise. They were bigger and physically stronger than us, but that’s normal the higher you go.
“They worked hard enough, and their effort and endeavour was there for everyone to see, but we just lacked a little bit in the last third. “ can’t remember either goalkeeper making a save, or a chance being created at both ends. The one opportunity they’ve got, they’ve taken it, but there was nothing much in it.
“It was always going to be hard with the amount of changes we made, but I thought it was important I saw more of the squad… We’re disappointed we’ve gone out, but I couldn’t fault their effort. Overall the group stuck at it, but when we needed that little bit of quality, it wasn’t quite there. When we made the changes outside, it was a little bit better, but we never really created enough. We huffed and puffed all night.”
