SIMON GRAYSON believes naivety proved costly as Sheffield Wednesday condemned Town to a “hugely disappointing” derby defeat.

The fourth-placed Galpharm side lie eight points off the automatic promotion places with only 15 left to play for, starting at Bournemouth today.

Grayson thought Town had the edge before going behind to Miguel Llera’s sweetly-struck 53rd-minute free-kick, controversially awarded when Sean Morrison challenged Danny Batth.

“It was a very good finish, but a very soft free-kick,” said Grayson.

“There was plenty of time to go, but we went forward as if we had to score in the next minute to get back into it.

“That meant we left ourselves open, and Alex Smithies had to make some good saves while they also hit the bar.

“We showed some naivety and have to learn how to respond after conceding.”

Wednesday’s second came from on-loan Newcastle striker Nile Ranger in the 72nd minute as Dave Jones’ side took advantage after Tom Clarke’s pass went astray, but Grayson refused to point the finger.

“Tom tried a diagonal ball, it hit someone and they did us on the counter-attack with the pace that they have,” he explained.

“Wednesday are very strong and powerful with lots of quick players like Jermaine Johnson, Michail Antonio and Nile Ranger who can cover ground really quickly.

“They are a different type of team to us, and our incisive players probably didn’t play as well as they can do.

“We lacked the kind of cutting edge needed to win the game.”

Third-placed Wednesday, who are two points behind arch-rivals Sheffield United in the race for the second automatic promotion spot, kept Town hot shot Jordan Rhodes under close wraps.

“We didn’t get the service in to him and they marshalled him very well, which sides have to do to stop him,” added Grayson.

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