Alan Irvine admitted Sheffield Wednesday never recovered from Carlisle taking the lead in the 3-1 Johnstone's Paint Trophy Northern Section semi-final defeat at Carlisle. Wednesday saw their six-game winning run come to an end and they also lost Neil Mellor, their hat-trick hero against Hartlepool in the previous round, two minutes before the break after an innocuous looking challenge with Michalik.

Irvine said: "I felt we looked quite good for most of the first half but the opening goal rocked us and we never really recovered. Conditions were difficult for both teams but I thought the pitch was playable. They took the risk out of it better than us. The second goal gave Carlisle a big boost and we really wobbled at that point. We had to survive that period but we didn't do it."

Wednesday had penalty claims turned down when goalkeeper Adam Collin got in a tangle with Jermaine Johnson with the score at 1-0. Irvine added: "Why would Johnson go down? He was round the keeper and bearing in towards goal. The keeper was not going to catch him. It was a massive moment in the game."