Sheffield Wednesday must find a way to break creeping issue - or risk being League One nearly men

There’s no need for mass panic. Wednesday remain in a good position in the League One table, a position that a handful of those above them would probably swap, you feel.

Set one point back on sixth-place Sunderland with a game in hand on them, Oxford and the increasingly faraway MK Dons, the Owls continue to welcome injured players back to the fore.

They remain fourth favourites with the bookies – behind the top three – to be promoted come May and the stats gurus at FiveThirtyEight have crunched the numbers to suggest Darren Moore’s men will finish sixth on 80 points.

But there have been reasons for concern spring up in the last two matches.

Disappointing draws with Accrington Stanley and Gillingham seem to have taken some of the fizz out of building optimism in an expectant Wednesday fanbase and will have prompted a little chin scratching at Hillsborough.

The ‘low block’ tactic deployed by these teams have foxed Wednesday at points throughout the season – it burst the bubble of early dominance at Morecambe as far back as August – and to date they are yet to truly master the knack of how best to beat such a ploy.

Teams, especially those in the bottom half of the third tier table, seem to be cottoning-on.

As per Wyscouts in their last seven league outings (it’s important to note Wednesday won four of them) Wednesday have been allowed 55% possession or more; a figure that rose to 61% and 67% in their last two drawn efforts.

Opposition teams have grown to sit deep and are content with taking the chance to hit the Owls on the break, they’re also safe in the knowledge they may well get some joy at set pieces.

Darren Moore has spoken a number of times of the need to move the ball quickly and imaginatively in such matches. The easing of weekend-to-midweek fixture pile-ups should help inject some energy into a midfield three that has been more or less a constant since George Byers’ impressive return to the side at the start of February.

Score first and the ‘low block’ tactic is no issue, of course, as Wednesday showed in rampant and not-so-long-ago wins over Burton Albion and Cambridge.

But as matches go deep and frustration grows both on the terraces and on the pitch, life gets difficult, particularly given the pressure of the form of other playoff contenders.

The facts are that Wednesday have lost one in seven or two in 12, but that those around them are in a similar vein. The frustration of these back-to-back draws need to be shaken off and fast.

“In recent weeks and months we’ve always been threatening to the opposition, but tonight it wasn’t enough,” Moore said after the Gillingham clash.

“What I have to look at is the front end of the pitch in terms of us going out and winning that game. We’ve got a week to work and we’ll be doing some patterns of play to make sure in these sorts of moments, we’re ready for them.”