The Owlesses boss has praised his team following a 7-0 derby loss – and credited them with going toe-to-toe with a Sheffield United academy side that featured first team players.

The game which saw Sheffield United U21s find themselves 2-0 up at the half-time break saw a dominant display which knocked Wednesday Ladies out in the third round of the Sheffield Hallamshire County FA cup.

Head coach Andy Gilligan said: “I’m very proud, really really proud of them, they were up against an academy side who train three days a week.”

In attendance was Sheffield United Women’s manager Jonathan Morgan, likely to observe first team players Liv Edwards and Grace Foy who both made appearances in the cup fixture.

United’s first team currently compete in the FA Women’s Super League 2, the second tier of Women’s football. This is a stark contrast to Wednesday who currently compete in the sixth tier of the football pyramid.

Speaking on the result Sheffield Wednesday Ladies, Gilligan said: “United have some really good players, there’s even some internationals and first team players in here.

“The fitness difference showed in the end, but I’m just to proud of the girls and the effort they put in from the beginning to the end.”

During the match, youngster Skye Webster faced a barrage of shots, producing multiple saves. Discussing the teams performance Wednesday Head Coach Gilligan said: “It was a fantastic performance, we had players playing on one leg out there at the end, but they carried on.

“It’s always a tough one in the county cup when you can’t have rolling subs, if we could’ve freshened it up, we would’ve done.

“They all dug in, none of them gave up, what a fantastic effort all round.”

Looking ahead Gilligan said: “We’ve only got two games left now alongside a couple weeks off so we will try and get some friendlies on in-between.

“We are nearly there on our goal to stay in this division, Leeds and then Kiveton, let’s keep the heads high and then we can enjoy the summer break.”