Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl branded his side’s second-half performance “not acceptable” as they twice relinquished the lead to draw 2-2 with Bristol City in the Championship.
The hosts totally dominated the first period but only had Djeidi Gassama’s fourth goal of the campaign to show for it as they missed a host of other chances.
City punished Wednesday for their missed opportunities as Nahki Wells headed home an equaliser, only for Di’Shon Bernard to restore the Owls’ lead two minutes later.
The home side began to sit deeper and deeper and they finally caved to the pressure as Ross McCrorie headed home an equaliser and only the crossbar denied Sam Bell a late winner for the City
Rohl said: “I think until 60 minutes, it was a good performance, but the last 30 minutes is not acceptable. Too passive, never got the pressure on the ball.
“I think there are too many draws at home. I was disappointed about me, that maybe I didn’t choose the right players to play the end of the game to help my team on the pitch and off the pitch.
“It’s hard to take the draw, even though we played against a good side. There is a reason why they are around our position. This is not a team who are doing better, they are doing well, they took the same points as us in the last 10 games.”
A draw leaves Sheffield Wednesday four points away from the play-off spots but Rohl was quick to highlight the progress from last season’s relegation battle.
He added: “When you compare from where we’ve come, you should not forget this last year. And now we fight for really special things.
“We consistently take points, we are hard to beat, it’s not easy to play against Sheffield Wednesday, all positive things.
“Since I arrived, I changed the mentality and we want to win games, we are hungry. There are still 18 games, anything is possible in this league.”
Bristol City bounced back twice to avoid a second successive draw and and a share of the spoils means they stay above Wednesday in the league.
Manager Liam Manning said: “Mixed emotions. First half they shaded it but second half we showed a real belief, purpose and intent.
“Marginally frustrated not coming away with more. The lads who came in had a massive impact, and Belly (Sam Bell) nearly nicked it at the end.
“I thought the changes we made raised the intensity, we pressed well. We passed the ball really well on a terrible pitch to be fair so the lads showed some bravery. It’s (the pitch) terrible, not at the level.”
