Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping that the upcoming league games against bitter rivals Sheffield United do not resemble this reserve clash in any way as the Owls were swept aside by their city neighbours on Wednesday afternoon at Hillsborough.
In fairness, Wednesday fielded a side with no more than a handful of first team appearances between them while the Blades included no less than seven players who are regularly in the 1st team squad plus the experienced Gerrard in goal.
United were 3-0 up by half-time with Blades fan and former Owls target Billy Sharp bagging a brace. Wednesday had Jamie Hadfield sent-off for two bookable offences in the second half and Lee Hendrie completed the scoring late on.
Injuries have hit the Owls first team hard in recent weeks and so with 1st team squad players at a premium and having played away at Southampton the night before, Wednesday gave youngsters a chance at this level rather than risking further injuries.
While this game is unlikely to have any bearing on what may happen when the 1st teams meet early next year the line-ups alone show the strength in depth that United have at the moment.