The Owls twice took the lead and had control of the match for large periods but allowed the Robins back into the game in a second half that ended with the visitors as the aggressors. Star man Shae Charles was substituted at half-time in what could prove to be his final match in a Wednesday shirt and fellow high performers Djeidi Gassama and Josh Windass were taken off in the 69th and 79th minutes respectively.
Röhl admitted their replacements were not able to make the same impact and sought to take responsibility for how the game panned out – though there was big logic to each of the three calls that have attracted criticism online.
Asked on the Charles sub, the German coach explained a caution shown for an angry response to Scott Twine’s kick-out on 27 minutes changed the Northern Ireland international’s performance.
Röhl said: “After the yellow card I felt he was a little bit passive, a little bit scared to go right in the duel, this is Shea’s strength, to be strong in the duel and win balls. Two or three times I felt he was scared to get the second yellow card and it was just protection for him. It was not easy, you can understand why he was subbed out but to risk a red card it would not be helpful.”
The two attacking subs saw their star men on the night taken off, with a drop in intensity noticeable as Wednesday dropped deeper and invited more pressure. With a quick turnaround to QPR on Saturday, decisions were made with half an eye on what was ahead, Röhl admitted.
“Gass stopped at the half-time to say he had cramps,” Röhl continued. “It was not easy to sub him out, because he was outstanding until this moment. Josh got to 80 minutes and after 80 minutes it’s always a little bit dangerous, it was protection. Normally I don’t like to make these subs, Yan also got a knock and had to be subbed. I tried to sub Pato in but the ball did not go out and then we conceded the equaliser.
“Today I was disappointed about me, that I didn’t choose the right players today at the end of the game, to help my team off the pitch. Today it is hard to take a draw.”
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