Joey Barton shares reason for Sheffield Wednesday struggles ahead of Bristol Rovers trip

The Gas manager, speaking after his midtable side held play-off chasers Derby County to a 1-1 draw at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday, looked ahead to Tuesday evening’s clash with relish.

Asked what sort of challenge he is expecting from the Owls, Barton spoke about his team’s lack of fear – also mentioning how difficult their forward line was to deal with last time out, a forward line that included now-injured attacker, Josh Windass.

“I’ll have to watch them back,” he said on his analysis of Wednesday. “When we played them last time they were on a good run and they were really effective with Gregory and Smith up there and Windass dropping off the back… We don’t fear them, we’ve got an opportunity to beat another good side at our stadium and give another good account of ourselves in front of our passionate fan base. The only disappointing thing for me is that these are games we’ve got to win to get ourselves into the play-offs and I think we’re good enough in this moment.”

Barton also touched on Wednesday’s run of just one win in eight and singled out the absence of his former Rangers teammate as a major factor in their alarming downturn in fortunes.

He said: “As Derby found out today, we’re a young and hungry group who are full of legs and full of running and we’re just getting stronger with no pressure. We’re a really dangerous opponent. Derby were here trying to keep pace with the play-off race and Sheff Wed are going to have to get something to keep pace with the automatic push.

“With Windass out, I don’t think they’ve got anywhere near the points they were getting before that. He’s a huge part of their arsenal. They’ve obviously got a lot of talent as well but when you’ve got his running ability and he can create a bit more space for your Smiths, your Barry Bannans.

“They’ve lost to Burton today and they’re starting to get into that ‘squeaky bum’ arena which can be a real hindrance for people that aren’t used to that habitually. So we’re coming here confident that we can cause any team problems.”