Sheffield Wednesday enjoyed a winning start to their pre-season campaign yesterday.
The Owls claimed a 2-0 win over Alfreton Town as Josh Windass and Malik Wilks got off the mark in their pre-season opener.
Sheffield Wednesday played out two different teams in each half, giving debuts to new signings Ben Hamer, Yan Valery, Max Lowe, Svante Ingelsson and Olaf Kobacki.
James Beadle, Di’Shon Bernard and Dominic Iorfa were the only senior players left out of the squad for their trip to Derbyshire.
Beadle only rejoined the club three days ago, while Bernard was unavailable after Jamaica’s exit from the Copa America this week. However, Iorfa’s absence initially went unexplained.
Rohl explains Dominic Iorfa absence
Danny Rohl addressed his omission at full-time, telling The Star: “We know what his strength is, he has big, big speed and for him it was important to train at home, he was not part of the game because he start on Thursday with the first training session.
“It’s important to control the load. I think for all the players there’s a reason why we took them and keep them and Dominic was a strong part of us last season.”
Sheffield Wednesday need to add defender
Iorfa became the fourth player to sign a new contract at Hillsborough this week and looks set to be a key player in Rohl’s rebuild.
The centre-back made 28 appearances in the Championship last season and adds some quality squad depth, but it remains to be seen whether he will be a regular in the backline.
Wednesday’s defence firmed up massively under Rohl, but they are definitely going to need strengthening if they are to push to that top half finish.
The German coach has already added Max Lowe and Yan Valery to his flanks, but more talent in the middle would be very handy if they are to avoid a successive relegation scrap.