Sheffield Wednesday ready to hit ‘fast forward’ on pre-season after Portugal success

And they’ll do so with miles in the legs and better bonded after a week in the Algarve sun.

The Owls signed off their pre-season training camp with a narrow defeat against Premier League AFC Bournemouth on Friday evening.

That run-out followed a training exercise with Middlesbrough and days at their training campus that involved gruelling days of double and triple sessions.

Darren Moore and his coaching staff spoke of the need to ‘front load’ their fitness during the week, while using the time away from home to bring the squad closer together.

And they appear to have done that, with seven new players now better integrated both into the changing room culture at Wednesday and the coaches’ way of working.

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Now it’s a weekend of rest and relaxation before the work starts again with two run-outs next week.

“We come out of the Portugal trip really pleased,” Moore said. “We got some real heavy work done, they'll benefit from it and they'll get the weekend off because of the loading and the work that they've done, they need to recover.

“We're pleased to complete the programme and hopefully we've got nothing too serious with the players which is pleasing.

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“We move on now. By the time we get in next week we're onto the fast-forward button and the season will be less than two weeks away. Then it becomes about sharpening the work that we're looking to do.”