Matt Oakley says City were outplayed by Owls
City's eight-game unbeaten run came to a sudden halt as relegation-threatened Wednesday snatched a deserved 2-0 victory.
On a testing pitch, Alan Irvine's Owls side played a direct, high-tempo game and Oakley admitted that City could not match their hosts.
However, he offered no excuses for the defeat and said everyone in the squad was still confident they could embark on another unbeaten run, starting against Cardiff at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday.
"After the highs of last week when we beat our local rivals, Nottingham Forest, this was disappointing," said Oakley.
"But we never really got going at Hillsborough. We played some pretty good football at times but they just had the edge on us on what was a pretty poor pitch.
"You could use the amount of games we have played lately as an excuse, but I think the lads felt all right. I just don't think we adapted to the conditions. The pitch was poor, a bit like the Plymouth game, and they played a lot of long balls. We didn't deal with that.
"But their keeper made some great saves and, on another day, they might have gone in.
"You have to give them credit, they deserved to win. This is a setback but we look forward to putting another run together."
City's afternoon was hampered by a facial injury to goalkeeper Chris Weale, who had to be replaced by Conrad Logan after half an hour.
Weale was not seriously injured but received a cut nose following a collision with Wednesday striker Marcus Tudgay and had to leave the field for stitches.
Oakley said it was an incident he had not witnessed before during his career.
"Chris cut his nose and he will be okay for Cardiff," he said.
"He had to have stitches and he couldn't come off for them – like an outfield player can – because he is a keeper, so he had to be replaced.
"It was a strange one and I haven't really seen that before, but it is a relief he will be fine."
Matt Oakley
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