Henrik Pedersen was encouraged by the identity Sheffield Wednesday showed as the Owls opened their competitive campaign with a 1-0 Carabao Cup victory over Bolton Wanderers at Hillsborough.
Jamal Lowe's second-half goal proved enough to send Wednesday into the second round, with the Owls also recording a clean sheet before attention turns to the start of their League One campaign.
After a difficult final pre-season outing against Oldham Athletic, this was the first opportunity to see Pedersen's rebuilt side in competitive action.
The difference pleased the Wednesday boss.
“I felt that our boys were back again,” Pedersen said afterwards. “I felt that we delivered a strong performance, and though the pressing was not always perfect we had a strong intensity.
“We worked the whole week so that when we won the ball we had a forward mindset to play forward and on the transition - and I think we were really strong in that.”
Less possession, greater attacking threat
The statistics give some weight to Pedersen's assessment.
Bolton actually had more of the ball, finishing with 55% possession compared with Wednesday's 45%, while the visitors completed 376 passes to Wednesday's 286 and recorded the superior passing accuracy at 84% to 78%.
But possession did not translate into greater threat.
Wednesday had 13 attempts to Bolton's 11 and put three on target, with Bolton managing just one. Eleven of Wednesday's efforts also came from inside the penalty area.
That provides an interesting contrast with the Oldham performance Pedersen referenced after the game.
“Last week we had a lot of passes that were sideways and backwards, today there was much better verticality and a bigger forward mindset to break lines, run behind and play forward,” he explained.
Wednesday did not need to dominate the ball to create opportunities.
They were prepared to move forward more quickly when possession changed hands, and their four offsides offer another small indication of a side looking to attack space behind Bolton rather than always receiving the ball in front of them.
It was not always polished, but there was noticeably more purpose.
Lowe provides the breakthrough
For all of Wednesday's attacking intent, the game remained tight until Lowe supplied the decisive moment in the second half.
Bolton were then reduced to ten men when Xavier Simons was sent off, an incident which inevitably altered the balance of the contest.
That context is important when assessing Wednesday's control later in the game. Playing against ten men gave Pedersen's side an advantage, and Bolton had enjoyed more possession overall.
What Wednesday did well was make sure that advantage counted.
There was no late route back into the game for the visitors and Bolton finished the afternoon having managed only one effort on target.
Pedersen was particularly pleased with what he saw when his side lost possession.
“We were also strong in the defensive transition,” he said. “It was a strong performance.”
Wednesday committed 17 fouls compared with Bolton's eight, another indication of the aggressive edge to the contest, although the Owls avoided collecting a yellow card while Bolton received two yellows in addition to Simons' red.
A useful first competitive step
There is little value in getting carried away with one Carabao Cup victory.
Bolton played part of the second half with ten men and there are still areas for Pedersen and his staff to improve as a substantially changed squad continues to develop.
But there was more substance to this performance than simply the result.
Wednesday had less possession but created more attempts. They got into the opposition penalty area regularly, restricted Bolton to one shot on target and found the moment of quality required to win the tie.
More significantly for Pedersen, there were signs that the ideas being worked on in training were beginning to appear on the pitch.
Next comes Leyton Orient and the opening game of Wednesday's 2026/27 League One campaign.
The demands will increase from here, but after an uncertain pre-season, Wednesday have at least begun competitive football with a performance their manager recognised.