Two former EFL stars in agreement over who can drag Sheffield Wednesday to survival

The Owls had two new additions to thank for breaking the deadlock early in the match when Ian Poveda jinked his way into the box to provide an assist for two-goal Ike Ugbo. The loanee pair were among the brightest performers as Wednesday stepped out of their form funk to record their first win in over a month.

Watching on as part of Sky television coverage, two lauded former EFL strikers spoke glowingly on the performance of one Wednesday player in particular, with Leeds United loanee Poveda taking the headlines for an eye-catching performance full of flair.

Former Owls forward Clinton Morrison described Poveda's effort as 'outstanding' and praised his determination in taking on the task of stepping into a relegation battle. "I thought he was outstanding tonight," Morrison said. "He thoroughly deserved the man of the match award. He's exciting and he's something that Sheffield Wednesday need. You know what they're like, they want to be hard-working and hard to beat but he's got that bit of x-factor where he can take you up the pitch.

"The way he dribbles, the way he has that close control, I thought his all-round game was outstanding. He's probably thinking that he needed to go out on loan. He wasn't playing at Leeds, Leeds have a lot of good attacking players. Most players would say 'no chance am I going there into a relegation battle', he's gone to front-up, go into a relegation battle with Sheffield Wednesday."

It was a theme followed by former Watford man Troy Deeney, recently out of an EFL manager's role with Forest Green Rovers. He picked up on Poveda's six tackles in the match, with only Blues left-back Lee Buchanan registering more (7).

"He's bought into it all," Deeney said. "We speak about the good things on the ball, he does the work off the ball as well, he won duels in the game and he's getting after it, he's not giving up and he's really embodied what Sheffield Wednesday need. He's got that x-factor, that little bit of extra quality that will change their fortunes not just now but moving forward."