Sheffield Wednesday lost 3-2 to Preston North End at the weekend as the wait for a win goes on for the beleaguered Owls.
It looked for large periods of Saturday’s game as though Wednesday would get a first win since September, with the Owls leading at the half-time interval.
Charlie McNeill scored twice for Wednesday but once again the lack of squad depth saw the Owls grow tired in the second half, with a McNeill penalty miss proving costly for the South Yorkshiremen.
Pedersen was left disconsolate after watching his Wednesday team throw points down the drain at Hillsborough, but after the game, he spared McNeill any blame for the incident.
What Henrik Pedersen told Charlie McNeill after Preston defeat
The Preston defeat will naturally hurt Wednesday – and McNeill in particular – with his penalty miss coming just moments before the Lilywhites scored the game’s winning goal.
Pedersen shared after the game what he’s actually said to McNeill and also expressed how the youngster was feeling following his decisive miss.
He told the Sheffield Star: “We all know that we have not won a game at home for a long time, and how much it would have meant if he had scored.
“He knows this and he’s so sad, but I’ll do all that I can to tell him how proud he has to be for this performance, he has delivered in these last two games.
“This is not a player we can just expect. It’s a young development player who has matched two of the better teams in the Championship right now; he has to be proud.”
McNeill will bounce back from penalty debacle
Sitting on a hat-trick, there was never any doubt that McNeill would take the penalty for Sheffield Wednesday and he will learn from the scenario.
McNeill played extremely well during the game and the former Manchester United youngster will bounce back from this under a manager who has given him the confidence of playing every single week.
McNeill is 22 and the fact he’s now off the mark in a goalscoring sense this season can only bode well as the Owls go in search of a huge victory on home soil in the coming weeks.
Relegation will almost certainly become a reality this season but with players like McNeill remaining at the club, there is no doubt that Wednesday can have a good chance of an instant return next season.