Sheffield Wednesday 1, Albion 0.

Gus Poyet’s glass was half-empty after a narrow and unfortunate defeat against the biggest club in League One.

That may seem a little harsh, considering Albion went to Hillsborough without three key players in Gordon Greer, Matt Sparrow and Alan Navarro.

But in terms of the long-term target this season of challenging for a top six spot, Poyet was spot on.

Albion were arguably a touch fortunate to leave Swindon with all three points on the opening day. They certainly should have beaten Rochdale at home and their performance on Saturday merited at least a point so they are behind the ball game.

Of course, it is still very early days and the fixture list has been unkind so far, but if the pattern persists then that promotion goal will prove elusive.

It is as true today as it was the day it became clear Nicky Forster no longer had a future at the club. Unless Albion can land the goalscorer they are trying so hard to find then promotion is likely to be beyond them.

Ashley Barnes has been a peripheral figure to date and Glenn Murray will do very well to score 20 goals operating through the middle alone for the entire campaign.

That is not a criticism of the system, because Albion fashioned enough sights of goal to respond to Giles Coke’s sparkling finish in the first half.

Unfortunately, Murray spurned the one real chance he had – and the best one of all – to leave the Seagulls with nothing to show for their cultured football.

Yes, they were hard done by again by another referee. Wednesday could easily have ended up with nine men, yet alone ten, if Andy Woolmer had not left himself open to the impression that he was intimidated by the stage and a vociferous crowd.

But the season must not degenerate into a blame game, a perpetual search for extenuating circumstances in the face of undeserved defeats or wasteful draws.

An accusing finger can justifiably be pointed at Woolmer for not dismissing Neil Mellor and or Chis Sedgwick. Ultimately, though, Albion have only themselves to blame for not getting the result their performance warranted.

Mellor’s neck-high shove with both hands on Adam El-Abd, after complaining he had been blocked off by the Albion centre-half from a cross, highlighted a familiar gripe about inconsistency.

The incident occurred after only seven minutes, but that is irrelevant and should not have influenced Woolmer’s thought process.

It was almost identical to the offences for which Matt Sparrow saw red against Northampton and Gordon Greer against Rochdale.

“We are going to have to make a book about referees,” Poyet lamented. “Tell me what was the difference?”

Perhaps El-Abd’s theatrical reaction was counter-productive, because from that moment Woolmer seemed reluctant to make a big call in Albion’s favour.

Chris Sedgwick was very lucky to get away with just a yellow card for a two-footed tackle on Marcos Painter approaching the hour mark and there was also a reasonable-looking shout for a penalty for a nudge from behind on Elliott Bennett by Lewis Buxton.

Albion were undoubtedly hard done by but a semblance of balance, of swings and roundabouts, is required. There was a pretty obvious handball by Bennett in the build-up to Murray’s opportunity.

Woolmer let it go and it led to Jamie Smith releasing Murray but he dragged his angled effort inches the wrong side of the far post. What, I wonder, would have been said if that had gone in?

The one that did, seven minutes shy of the break, was a touch of quality. Coke played a short one-two with Marcus Tudgay before guiding a left-foot finish beyond Casper Ankergren from just outside the box.

Wednesday, contrastingly direct in style, looked pretty decent up to that point. Tudgay was a nice mixture of bright thinking and industry, while in Buxton and Tommy Spurr the Owls had two strong, attack-minded full-backs.

The most heartening aspect of all was the way Albion retaliated. Considering the circumstances – a goal down against one of the title favourites and with a below-strength team – they could easily have faded away meekly to a routine defeat.

Radostin Kishishev was their inspiration with his eye for a pass and, very nearly, a goal.

The veteran Bulgarian’s toe-poke with the outside of his right foot forced Nicky Weaver into a fine save just before the break.

Weaver was not tested nearly enough, given the pattern of the game, as Wednesday threatened only intermittently to stretch their lead. Jamie Smith came closest to an equaliser early in the second half, clipping the top of the crossbar from 12 yards from Bennett’s cut-back.

Poyet said: “It was an entertaining game between two very good teams with different styles. They looked a little bit more mature and I think that was the difference. They know how to play the game a little bit better than us.

“I don’t think they are going to run as much all season in terms of defending. It took them a while to realise how we play football, but you need to finish.

“We had one half chance in the first half, three or four in the second. I didn’t see their goalkeeper make a save apart from the one from Kish, but we didn’t deserve to lose.”

Hopefully that is a phrase Poyet will not be obliged to repeat too often.

Albion (4-3-3): Ankergren; Calderon, Elphick, El-Abd, Painter; Smith (Battipiedi 71), Dicker, Kishishev (Baz 78); Bennett, Murray, Barnes. Subs not used: Walker, Hart, Holroyd, Caskey, Cook.

Goals: None.

Yellow cards: Dicker (29) foul, El-Abd (45) foul.

Sheffield Wednesday (4-4-2): Weaver; Buxton, Purse, Beevers, Spurr; Sedgwick (O'Connor 73), Potter, Coke (Palmer 88), Teale; Tudgay, Mellor (Heffernan 81). Subs not used: Jameson, Hinds, Jones, Otsemobor.

Goal: Coke (38).

Yellow cards: Mellor (7) unsporting behaviour, Purse (52) foul, Sedgwick (59) foul, Spurr (69) foul.