Middlewood Road battle between players provided inspiration for Sheffield Wednesday's latest win

The German coach watched on from the side lines as his side recorded a third win in four matches to breathe further life into their survival effort, overcoming a desperate Bristol City onslaught in the final moments to take three points with 10 men after Di'Shon Bernard's sending off for two bookable offences.

Röhl has praised the mental toughness and improving performances of his side week-on-week since a team meeting following a horror afternoon at Huddersfield Town he credits with helping to turn their season around. Their finishing and defensive stats are up and optimism is growing that despite a task that remains difficult, they can time a rise out of the bottom three right with 12 matches to go.

It was the intensity and battle shown in the final training session of last week that Röhl felt his side were able to take into their Bristol City clash. After a tentative start from both sides Ike Ugbo hit his first of two goals on the day to spark a 2-1 win. It came after Wednesday players had been pitted against one another in training; those holding spots in the starting line-up against those challenging them.

"On Friday we had a high quality last training before the game," Röhl told The Star. "It was great to see how much of a challenge they had; the starters against the subs in this case. It was good to see and everybody was fighting for the position in the starting line-up and this is the culture we want and we need at the club. Today we can enjoy but already the next game is in my mind. The next week will be tough against Rotherham, Plymouth and Leeds. We cannot rest, we have to go again and again and we will have a great opportunity to achieve our goals."