Henrik Pedersen has given his thoughts on Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough last night.

Looking back at the narrow reverse, with the home side gifted their goal early on, Pedersen said: “We were well organised and strong on the ball but we made the mistake and this is the difference on the night.

“Gab made the back pass to Murphy and they score and after this we had a difficult period. But we closed the first half in a good way.

”The second half, for the first ten minutes, they had the ball a lot but we worked our way in, especially after changing formation around 60 minutes.

“For the last 30 minutes I think we were very strong, how we pressed and how we were on the ball.

“The last pass and the last action was lacking for us but it was a strong performance. We wanted to be a hunting team who can press well, well organised and be dominant on the ball.

“We had courage and belief at a difficult place and we more than competed tonight.”

Promising young striker Will Grainger came on for the last 23 minutes and impressed, soon testing home keeper Sol Brynn and the Owls boss added: “We have spoken about when is the right time to bring him in and I think he did it really well tonight.

“Since Christmas, he has grown a lot and is not so much a kid but more a young man now.”

Pedersen said that Pierce Charles missed out after picking up a back injury against Charlton but hopes he will return at Oxford on Saturday.