Sheffield Wednesday: Atdhe Nuhiu staying grounded after Owls victory

Atdhe Nuhiu is refusing to get carried away despite the Owls' success on the opening weekend of the new Championship season.
Atdhe NuhiuAtdhe Nuhiu
Atdhe Nuhiu

Carlos Carvalhal’s men made a dream start, defeating newly-relegated Aston Villa 1-0 at Hillsborough thanks to Fernando Forestieri’s late strike.

Centre forward Nuhiu, brought on as a substitute mid-way through the second half, is optimistic Wednesday will build on that positive showing over the coming weeks.

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“Our confidence will grow with that result,” he told The Star. “We worked hard for the last five or six weeks and were looking forward to that.

“Everyone wanted to get the three points. We deserved to win.

“But it’s just a win. It’s no more than that.”

Most observers felt Wednesday, last season’s beaten Play-Off finalists, shaded the first half and Villa had the better of the second period. Ultimately, Forestieri seized on a goalkeeping error from Pierluigi Gollini to slot in an 85th-minute winner.

Attacking midfielder Almen Abdi, one of three debutants, said: “It’s nice to start with a win. It was a fantastic atmosphere. I really enjoyed the game.

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“It was a tough match but finally we got the win, against a good Aston Villa side.

“We are always believing. We played well but in the first 20 minutes of the second half they came out stronger so it was tough but like I said, we believe in our qualities and we were patient enough to score late on.

“It is very important (to get off to a winning start). The gaffer told us before that we have to have a better start than last year. We have a clean sheet, we played well as a team and in the end we scored the winning goal. Fernando

did brillaintly and everybody’s happy.”

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Abdi, who is unlikely to be involved in their cup clash away to Cambridge United this evening, reserved special praise for match-winner Forestieri.

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The 29-year-old, who played alongside Forestieri at Watford, said: “I have known Fernando for a few years and he has great quality.

“He had a few chances and didn’t score but he was alone in front of the goal and I had no doubt he would score and I am very happy for him.”