Garry Monk has refused to blame Barry Bannan's absence for Sheffield Wednesday's late defeat at Blackburn on Saturday.

The Owls took the lead through Jacob Murphy with just seven minutes left, but couldn't hang on and ended up actually losing the game 2-1 as Blackburn scored two very late goals.

It was a disappointing defeat for Monk's side, especially after they had been so impressive in last week's draw with Leeds United.

Bannan missed the game at Ewood Park due to a slight knock, but Monk refused to blame that for the defeat and insisted that the players did what they had prepared to do.

Speaking to the Sheffield Star, Monk said: "Barry is a big miss. He has that quality, we all know what he can bring to the team.

"But I thought we did exactly what we prepared for. Players are missing throughout the season, for whatever reason, and you have to deal with that.

"The players did exactly what we prepared for, and that’s probably what hurts even more. We knew it was going to be a hard, physical game. We had to be ready for that."

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The Verdict

Bannan is always so crucial for Sheffield Wednesday and with him being out injured, it meant that the Owls failed to get the ball on the floor and play as much football as they would have liked.

The set-pieces were also poor on Saturday and the Owls failed to create as much as they'd have liked. They also missed the Scot's leadership in the closing moments as Wednesday failed to close out the game and get the victory.

It's obviously a massive blow having Bannan out, and it probably would have been a different game with him on the pitch, but you can't blame that for certain players who would normally start also having poor individual displays.