Owls Can Expect Tough Frickley Test

Wednesday will go into tonight's clash with Frickley Athletic with a side of youth and fringe players, but knowing they'll be in for a good test.

The UniBond Premier League side have already given Championship side Barnsley, who fielded a strong side, a run for their money at the Tech5 Stadium this season, despite going down 3-1 earlier this month.

And Wednesday assistant boss Russ Wilcox, who used to play for the South Elmsall club, will be expecting a similar impressive outing for Billy Heath's men tonight (kick-off 7pm).

For Frickley, it's another mouth-watering tie, and follows on from previous pre-season clashes against Sheffield United and Doncaster Rovers in recent seasons.

But the Blues, too, will be using the clash as preparations for their forthcoming league campaign.

'We're looking forward to the visit of Sheffield Wednesday, hopefully there will be another decent crowd,' boss Heath said.

'We don't know what kind of side they're going to bring, but it'll still be a great test if they bring their younger players because they'll come here with something to prove.'

He continued: 'It'll still be a bit mix and match with the players that I'll be using, that's the way we've used the squad so far and I won't be changing that yet.

'We're not looking at our shape for the season just yet, we'll probably bring that in at the weekend, but the match against Wednesday will give us the chance to rotate players and give some other lads a chance.'

Frickley, like most non-league clubs, have a no-nonsense approach, and will no doubt be backed be a decent-sized, vocal crowd, some of whom will follow Owls' rivals Barnsley and Sheffield United.

However it turns out tonight, it should be interesting...

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