Sheffield Wednesday: Owls midfielder urges focus for run-in

Barry Bannan is demanding the Owls forget their Bristol City pasting and focus on themselves as they bid to secure a play-off spot.
Carlos Carvalhal, left, and Barry BannanCarlos Carvalhal, left, and Barry Bannan
Carlos Carvalhal, left, and Barry Bannan

The influential midfielder believes their 4-1 thumping at Ashton Gate was a “minor blip”, insisting Wednesday remain well-equipped to qualify for the end of season knockout tournament.

Following their heaviest defeat of the campaign, Carlos Carvalhal’s charges slipped to sixth in the Championship, although they still hold a healthy five-point lead over closest rivals Cardiff City in the battle to finish in the play-off positions.

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Bannan is optimistic Wednesday will quickly put things right, starting at home to Ipswich Town today.

“We are in pole position,” the Scotland international told The Star. “It is up to us to keep winning games and we will be in play-offs.

“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves. We have to focus on our performances. If we do that and do things in the right way, then we will be in there.

“We are looking to finish as high as we can. We will try to win all five and see where we finish. We just need to do our jobs, keep our concentration and work as hard as we can and hopefully that will get us over the line.”

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Aiden McGeady (hamstring) and Gary Hooper (foot) are big injury doubts.

On their below-par showing at Bristol City, he said: “I don’t really know what went wrong as we started really strong.

“We had most of the ball but we didn’t have a cutting edge. It was one of the worst performances we’ve put in.

“When they scored, it all went downhill from there. It was a freak result.

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“It’s the way football goes. It was a minor blip. We will learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. We can’t put in another performance like that.

“Maybe it was the kick in the teeth we needed going into the final five games of the season.

“Carlos told us to forget about it. We have to learn from it and get back to what we have been doing in the last few weeks.”