Wednesday’s losing streak continued in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night as they bowed out at the third round stage against Southampton at St Mary’s.
Jay Rodriguez scored twice to send Premier League Saints through and leave the Owls with a long trip back to South Yorkshire on the back of yet another defeat.
It wasn’t plain sailing for the hosts, with Dave Jones’s side causing their higher-division opponents problems, but Nigel Adkins’s men eventually progressed and arguably edged what was a relatively close encounter on the whole.
Both sides made plenty of changes for the contest, although the Owls were keen for a victory to end a poor run of results and Saints were keen to build on their emphatic 4-1 victory over Aston Villa at the weekend.
In for Wednesday came debutant Paul Corry, while Jose Semedo, Gary Madine and Chris Maguire were also among the players included in the starting eleven.
The game was evenly contested for the opening 15 minutes before Stephen Bywater, also back in the starting eleven in goal for Wednesday, came rushing from his line to deny Rodriguez the opener.
Wednesday responded through winger Michail Antonio, their biggest threat on the night, who got on the end of a Kieran Lee ball and chipped Saints stopper Paulo Gazzaniga – but also chipped over the bar.
Although the Owls were matching their hosts for spells the Saints still managed to carve out the better chances, with Bywater again doing well to deny Guly Do Prado and keep the scores level.
The Owls number two stopper had kept Wednesday’s only clean sheet of the season in the 1-0 defeat of Fulham in the previous round but he couldn’t repeat that feat as Southampton took the lead on the half-hour.
Rodriguez carved out a chance for himself just on the edge of the box and sent an unstoppable effort beyond Bywater to break the deadlock.
It could have got worse for the visitors before half-time but Do Prado’s shot came back off the post as Saints had to make do with a one-goal cushion at the interval.
Wednesday made one change at half-time with Joe Mattock returning from suspension to replace Kieran Lee, and the Owls fired a warning shot immediately after the restart through Nejc Pecnik.
The Owls’ summer recruit came even close not long after, forcing Gazzaniga into a fine save to keep the hosts in front.
Jermaine Johnson and Chris O’Grady both came on after the hour mark to try and add more attacking intent to Wednesday’s play but the changes did little to change the flow of the game.
And Southampton’s progression was secure in the 78th minute with a controversial penalty.
Mattock was adjudged to have fouled De Ridder inside the box, when the Owls protested it being outside the area. The referee pointed to the spot and Rodriguez made it 2-0.
Southampton: Gazzaniga, Richardson, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Seaborne, Cork (Robinson 82), Ward-Prowse, Prado (Reeves 71), De Ridder, Chaplow, Rodriguez (Hoskins 85). Unused substitutes: Davis, Butterfield, Gape, Sinclair.
Wednesday: Bywater, Lee (Mattock 46), Llera, Beevers, Jones, Antonio, Semedo, Corry (J Johnson 66), Pecnik, Maguire (O`Grady 66), Madine. Unused substitutes: Jameson, Mayor, Lavery, Rodri.
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