How Sheffield Wednesday can cope with the play-off pressure - Alan Biggs

Expectation. A word I’ve never known go missing when any out-of-town pundit discusses a big game involving Sheffield Wednesday. “Expectation levels are huge there … through the roof” … that sort of thing. And when you’re still in League One, they bloomin’ well should be! Well, you felt that expectancy go up still higher at Hillsborough last Sunday after it emerged that the Owls’ play-off semi-final opponents would be not a similar-sized Derby County but a much smaller-scale Peterborough United. Pressure, much more of it, heaped on Wednesday. Very little on Posh - who finished an incredible 19 points behind them - after their widely unexpected gatecrashing of the top six, partly courtesy of the Owls’ last-day win over Derby. Here was me thinking Darren Moore’s men might not shoulder quite so much of that “expectation” this time, especially after some late-season lifting of sagging performance levels. But, hell, if the job’s going to be done it was always going to be the hard way. So bring it on. And it’s what any player or coach who comes to S6 signs up for. Crucially, there is evidence of Moore’s side recovering some of the poise and composure that deserted them for one short, critical period. The Derby game itself was a difficult test to pass in a different way and they did it in measured style, claiming a fourth straight win by balancing the need to keep a foot-down mentality with a shrewd deployment of the squad. Within that, two less-than-automatic choices were talking points for me. Jaden Brown was snappily tidy in the back three, he’s a better player than we might think. Adaptable too. And the hugely frustrating Fisayo Dele-Bashiru at least showed hints of what he can - and should - provide running from midfield. FDB looked some sort of alternative in that role to Josh Windass. But, of course, getting the highly influential Windass back on the field from the bench was the best sight of last Sunday. It’s timely and vital for a side that struggles for creativity when opponents sit behind the ball. An early release of Windass, usually by Barry Bannan, changes that up. Above all, though, I hope Wednesday are positive and go for the win in Friday’s first leg at Posh. Ultimately, I thought it was caution in the opening away legs that cost Wednesday in their last two play-off campaigns - at Huddersfield in 2017 (in the Championship) and at Sunderland last year. You don’t want to heighten the pressure in the second leg by inviting the opposition to sit deep and kill the tempo, factors the Owls have struggled to overcome despite their formidable home record. What should also focus the mind is that they lost at the Weston Homes Stadium back in August. Peterborough are as unpredictable as they come. Dangerous opponents on a high from winning at Barnsley to claim sixth place and who can embrace that nothing-to-lose mentality. After amassing an incredible 96 points and still missing top two, Wednesday have a season’s work and more to lose. Yet there was a buoyancy back in the stadium last weekend. Crowd and team are very much as one. This could still prove to be one of the club’s most glorious and memorable campaigns.