Blades Take Reserve Derby

January's Steel City derby is slowly creeping up, but the red and white side of Sheffield has taken the first scalp of the season in in the reserve team derby this week.

OK, yesterday's clash between Wednesday reserves and United reserves will mean nothing going in to the main event on Saturday, January 19, and the experience within the Blades side that triumphed 4-0 far outweighed that of the Owls side.

Wednesday put out a relatively young side for the clash at Hillsborough, while our friends from across the city fielded more experienced players such as Rob Hulse, Billy Sharp and Lee Hendrie (maybe it was their cup final, after all?!).

Former Owls Leigh Bromby and Alan Quinn also featured in the red and white, while goals from the visitors came from Hulse, Sharp (2) and Hendrie to give them an emphatic victory.

The Owls sent out their youngest second string to date this season, not wanting to add to their growing injury list with some crucial matches coming up in the Championship in December.

Rob Burch was the only first-teamer to be included, while hot prospects Rocky Lekaj, Luke Boden and Liam McMenamin also featured on a tough afternoon at S6.

Let's make the main count in January, eh?

Wednesday: Burch, McMenamin, Kay, Harrison, Hadfield, Liversidge, McClements, Boden, Tunnard, Bowman (L Lekaj 67), R Lekaj. Not used: N Wood, O'Donnell, Mohammed, Stirrup.

United: Gerrard, Bromby, Naughton, Ashmore, Cresswell, Lucketti, A Quinn, Hendrie, Hulse (Oliver 67), Sharp, S Quinn (Donnelly 67). Not used: Lowton, Ho Lee, Kerry.