Interim Rochdale boss offers frank assessment after Carabao Cup exit to Sheffield Wednesday

Interim Rochdale boss Jim McNulty was left cursing "three absolute worldie goals" as Sheffield Wednesday dumped the League Two side out of the Carabao Cup. The Owls strolled into the third round of the competition after three stunning first half strikes from Jaden Brown, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Dennis Adeniran.

McNulty, who replaced former Wednesday loanee Robbie Stockdale as boss last week, said: “It was a tough one. Three absolute worldie goals first-half and I really feel sorry for the players with the efforts they gave.

“Even without Sheffield Wednesday scoring worldie goals, this is a tough enough game as it is. Theirs is a really well-equipped squad. It’s a Championship squad and even when they rotated their starting 11, they were so, so strong.

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“I feel sorry for the players and the fans that travelled because it was a tough night. We didn’t have a lot to feed off."

Despite a spirited second half showing, Dale fell to a sixth loss in seven outings. And McNulty had no complaints over the final scoreline.

“They were competitive,” McNulty said. “All game they were competitive.

“I don’t want to talk stats all the time but the analysts there were saying Sheffield Wednesday’s xG was 0.4. That means they didn’t really penetrate us.

“The lads defended as a unit so well, which we needed to do here. We’ve been beaten by three absolute screamers.”

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