Xavier Simons sent off after hitting Harry Gray as Bolton crash out in defeat to Sheffield Wednesday

Xavier Simons sent off after hitting Harry Gray as Bolton suffer a Carabao Cup First Round exit to Sheffield Wednesday.

It was a scrappy first half, Championship newboys Bolton missed three chances, reduced to 10 men, then Wednesday, who suffered relegation to League One, the stronger, grabbing a beautiful late winner from Jamal Lowe, with Barry Bannan involved in the goal.

As seen in video footage below, Simons losing his head, lashing out then the Owls had the last laugh .

Cant be throwing a punch because someone pulls your shirt. Silly#bwfc pic.twitter.com/10xvNMBGHe

— RB (@karate_kid29) August 8, 2026

Simons red card #bwfc https://t.co/U9sl3twaiK pic.twitter.com/xZznv1n73J

— Y🔻 (@YasinAdam0) August 8, 2026

Team lineups, as per swfc.co.uk and bwfc.co.uk:

Sheffield Wednesday: Lumley, Valery (Palmer 85), Otegbayo, Swinkels, M Lowe, Bannan (Fusire 79), Slattery, Thornton (Barry 63), Gray (Grainger 79), Liongola, Burstow (J Lowe 63)

Bolton Wanderers: Bonham, Stephenson, Forino (Toal 76), Davies (Watson 76), Famewo, Sheehan (c), Simons, Larrazabal (Conway 62), Rodrigues (McAtee 72), Gale (Dong 72), Dalby

Bolton subs not used: Harrington, Christie, Warren, Ritchie

🗣️ “I am very pleased… last week against Oldham was an example of how we don’t want to be and today I saw my boys back on the pitch.”

Henrik Pedersen on Sheffield Wednesday’s League Cup win against Bolton #SWFC

Full interview 👉 https://t.co/8pM8nS9sVb pic.twitter.com/xpiFoPjwNL

— Football Heaven (@footballheaven) August 8, 2026

Henrik Pedersen told BBC Sheffield’s Football Heaven show: “I’m really pleased. We have had a good pre-season and then last week against Oldham it was an example for how we don’t want to be.

“And today I saw my boys back on the pitch for who we want to be. And from the football game I saw a lot of step in the right direction for our aggressive pressing, for our quick transition, more players high up when we want the ball, more forward mindset, a team when we generally were on the ball that we have less backwards passes, less sideways passes, but there was a good verticality in this.

“And then I saw a culture with a team where everything was not perfect, but there was no evaluation. We keep on going and they keep on working and they keep on working as a group. Yeah, I’m happy for the performance.”

Interviewer: “Was it important to score a goal, win the game, but get a clean sheet as well and completely draw a line under last week?”

Henrik: “We are here for winning football games and we have to get used to win and today we find a way to win. Next Saturday we have to find another way to win.

“But of course it means a lot. It means everything in this situation where we are that we have to learn to win and find a way to win. And today how the boys keep concentrating, keep going, keep going and we have spoken about changes.

“Today we changed a little bit earlier than we did last season. And I think they did it well also when the players came in. So, yeah, I’m pleased with this.”

Interviewer: “One of those changes was Jamal Lowe who scored the goal. What did you make of the goal? It well crafted, wasn’t it?”

Henrik: “I think it was a great goal, but it was also a Jamal with intensity. And it was a Jamal deep running.

“And this is one of the things we have spoken about in the team that we generally want to change a little bit earlier to increase the intensity. And yeah, he did really well when he came in.”

Here’s the social media reaction on Xavier Simons sent off after hitting Harry Gray as Bolton crash out in defeat to Sheffield Wednesday…

@AshFinney1: A professional footballer with not far off 100 apps punching a 17 year old kid in a carabao cup round one fixture because he’s pulled his shirt 🤣🤣🤣 #swfc

@WanderasLuke: Cannot argue at all with that. Stupid, stupid thing to do. He didn’t even try to defend the decision. Poor composure from Simons.

@WanderasLuke: We was controlling the game quite well until Xavier Simons turned into Muhammad Ali.

@tksalwander: Absolutely no excuses. Should be fined. Short on numbers and you do that

@AlexWithTheGC: Losing your head in the first competitive game is definitely a choice…

@jonty_82: Crazy petulance, got the free kick, move on. An already thin squad even thinner – is that going to be 3 games?

@JackBWFC04: What the fuck is he doing that for. Absolutely stupid in a nothing game. Already weak squad as it is going into the season. Idiot

@over_thehump: Let’s be honest this is crazy from Simons. 3 match ban right from the season start. I’m sure he knows it but that is the last thing we needed. Otherwise a decent performance. Quality additions needed up that top end though #BWFC

@SWFCNick: You’ve got to be absolutely fuming at Simons if you’re a Bolton fan. Why on earth would you punch an opponent cos he pulled you back 🙈🙈🙈