Sheffield Wednesday drew with Coventry City in the FA Cup fourth round last night, and it was a night to remember for one player.
Sheffield Wednesday welcomed Coventry City in the FA Cup fourth round last night, seeing the Sky Blues visit Hillsborough for a second week running.
And it was another closely-contested game; Sheffield Wednesday had plenty of the ball in both halves, but found themselves a goal behind at half-time after Victor Torp rifled one into the top corner from range.
Djeidi Gassama got a well-deserved goal in the second half to earn a replay at the CBS Arena, capping a strong performance from him, though young goalkeeper Pierce Charles may take all the plaudits.
Pierce Charles impresses on Sheffield Wednesday debut
The 19-year-old academy goalkeeper stepped in after an injury to Cameron Dawson ahead of this game.
It was his debut for the first-team and he had relatively little to do all night, but when he had the ball at his feet, he showed great composure and calmness to keep play ticking along.
Then, right at the death, he produced a huge save from point blank range to keep Sheffield Wednesday in the competition, capping what was a solid debut from the Northern Ireland youth international.
After the game, journalist Joe Crann gave this review of Charles’ performance:
More patience needed for teen Charles
Danny Rohl has already revealed this month that Charles might head out on loan, and after his solid showing last night, there’ll surely be a few teams looking at Charles and thinking he might be a solid signing.
And a loan exit might be best; he’s clearly too good to be playing youth football for the rest of the season and whilst being no.2 and sitting on the bench might give him first-team exposure, to a degree, a loan move to a League One or League Two side would be much better for his development.
Then after that, Charles could be ready to challenge for the no.1 spot at Sheffield Wednesday with Dawson out of contract in the summer and James Beadle set to return to Brighton.
The stars seem to be aligning for Charles who could yet go on to have a bright future as a Sheffield Wednesday player.
Up next for the Owls is a home game vs Watford in the Championship on Wednesday night.