Laws hails Esajas

Esajas: A goal and two assists

Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws was full of praise for Etienne Esajas in Saturday's 3-1 victory over Cardiff City.

The Dutch winger has been waiting patiently for a start and made the most of his chance against the Bluebirds with a goal and two assists.

His inch-perfect free-kick opened the scoring after just four minutes and, despite Peter Whittingham's leveller from the penalty spot, Esajas twice crossed from the left in the second half for Luke Varney and Leon Clarke to secure the points.

"I thought Esajas was very, very good today no doubt about that," said Laws.

"He's been waiting for quite a while to get his opportunity and has probably been a bit frustrated, so I said 'You've earned the right and don't spoil it by trying to be clever'.

"And you can't ask for anymore than that, he's contributed to two goals and scored one himself."

Laws continued: "The one thing that has been the down side for Etienne has been not just his consistency but his injuries.

"But certainly today he was exceptionally good."

Disallowed goal

Wednesday twice hit the woodwork through Varney and Clarke but one of the main post-match talking points was the decision to disallow Michael Chopra's first-half lob with the scores level at 1-1.

The striker was adjudged to have been offside when he converted David Marshall's long ball over the top - one of two goals ruled out for the visitors.

Laws' counterpart Dave Jones felt Chopra's goal should have stood while he feels Joe Ledley was also wrongfully dismissed as his first bookable offence was a good tackle.

"Everybody's going on about time added on in injury time but the bigger issue is getting the decisions right," said the Bluebirds boss.

"Chops' goal is a goal, he's not offside. It's as simple as that and I've been done today and I've been done on Wednesday night.

"I think Joe has been punished harshly because his first tackle was a good tackle. Again, it's a wrong decision from them."