Henrik Pedersen thanks fans for getting behind Sheffield Wednesday despite loss

Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen praised the supporters for the way they got behind the team during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Oxford one day after the club went into administration, triggering a 12-point deduction.

Fans returned to Hillsborough in numbers after demonstrations against controversial owner Dejphon Chansiri in previous games.

Will Lankshear and Cameron Brannagan both scored to put Oxford 2-0 up at half-time before Wednesday rallied after the break and put in a battling performance.

They dominated for most of the second half but only had a goal from Sean Fusire to show for their efforts.

Pedersen said: “Before the football side, I’ll start to say thanks to all the fans. What a welcome we got and what a support we got today. And in this case, it was a fantastic day today.

“Today it was a clean atmosphere, it was a fun atmosphere, positive atmosphere. It was a hope atmosphere. It was fantastic support to the boys on the pitch.

“I think everyone knows it’s a difficult situation. We need a top, top support and today it was a really, really good beginning.

“We struggled a little bit in our build-up in the first half to find the right position, the right movement, the right solution to come out of the pressing from them. And then we conceded two goals again in the first half.

“I have to say the boys played a really, really strong second half from a tactical perspective and from a mentality perspective.

“I’m generally proud of the players, the staff, the coaches, how much everyone is working. After a week like this, I think the picture is clear. We can compete with everyone.

“I’m 100 per cent convinced that there’ll be a bright future for Sheffield Wednesday.”

Oxford boss Gary Rowett was delighted with the way his players dealt with the challenge of facing a team boosted by renewed backing from their supporters in a near-capacity crowd.

He said: “Really pleased. I think it was sort of two schools of thought when we heard the news yesterday, playing Sheffield Wednesday with a full Hillsborough and a full crowd. As we all know, I think that for football, that’s great news.

“No-one wants to come here and play in front of, you know, a few fans. I think it’s great that they got behind it. But we also knew that might make our task a little bit harder because it’s not an easy place.

“I don’t care where they are in the league or what points they’re on. It’s not an easy task. We knew it would give them a lift. So I thought first half we managed that really well.

“In truth, we should have had a few more goals really. You know, there’s a blatant penalty, possibly a second one. We haven’t had a penalty now for about 18 months. It’s quite bizarre, really.

“I thought we were really good out of possession. I think that’s been a big thing recently.

“It’s six points out of nine. I think certainly our points look a little bit more like they should because we’ve actually performed a lot better than our position in the table suggests. We’ve got two home games now coming up where we’ve got to try and build on that.”