Manager's Musings: Post-City

Wednesday boss Brian Laws hailed his team's performance against former team-mate Stuart Pearce's Manchester City in the FA Cup 3rd Round - and insists his side could well have taken a victory.

Steve Maclean hit a wonder-strike 12 minutes from time to give the Owls a well-deserved replay back at Eastlands after Georgios Samaras had given the Premiership side the lead just seconds earlier from the spot.

And Laws was impressed with the tie as a whole - and revealed the only disappointment was that his team hadn't gone one setp further and won the game.

'It was an absolutely magnificent effort,' Laws told the official SWFC site. 'The players and the crowd gave everything but the disappointing thing is we haven't won the game - we did everything but win it.'

He continued: 'You can't express how proud I am at the moment. In the second half, we outplayed them and outpassed them. It's unfortunate we didn't get the result we deserved but at least we're in the hat.'

And Laws heaped special praise on goalkeeper Mark Crossley who came through his fitness race to take part, and Steve Maclean who netted the Owls leveller with a sublime finish.

'We had to pull out a blinder of a finish - MacLean had an excellent game today. Since I've been here he's not missed a training session, he's been available for every game and he's stronger than he's ever been.

He aded: 'He (Crossley) had an injection at half-time but he's taken a kick in the face and got through the game,' said the boss. 'You want players to give their all, and sometimes suffer. But he was the less busy keeper today.'

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