Why Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore made early call to sub off frustrated Aden Flint in Exeter City win

The Owls produced a lacklustre first half but battled back from a goal deficit and keep their hopes of automatic promotion alive thanks to goals by Lee Gregory and Callum Paterson.

A talking point arrived on 57 minutes when centre-half Aden Flint was taken off in place of Dennis Adeniran, prompting a switch around in the back five to accomodate Adeniran’s move to right wing-back.

Flint had earlier lost his man for Exeter’s opener a few minutes earlier as Josh Key was allowed space between him and Dom Iorfa - though Moore made crystal clear the decision to take him off was nothing to do with that.

The giant defender was visibly frustrated with the decision.

“We had to go and win the game,” he told The Star. “What I did was re-jig the pack around, got Dennis out there to get another attacker out on the pitch, got Dom in the middle.

“It was just a case of us having to win the game. It’s obviously not nice for Aden to have to sacrifice himself for the team, but you have to remember the goal comes from Dennis.

“That’s what we’re paid to do. We have to look at games and detatch yourself from the emotional side of the game and look tactically at where we could get at them. It’s always nice to see those come off.

“To make that change early in the game, we had to do it and the goal came from that right-hand side.

“Aden knows that with the games still to go there’s parts he’ll play. Sometimes it’s about just seeing things and making that change at the time.”

Decisions such as that are not taken alone, Moore stressed.

“As a manager I don’t feel like I’m in this alone,” he said. “I feel like I have an army of people around me so making a decision is based on everyone. It was good to see that decision made and play off for us. It was about getting Dennis on the pitch.”