Big Dom, failed transfers and Bee Gees: Will Vaulks snarling for 'derby' as Sheffield Wednesday meet Rotherham United

It was a win that injected new air into the lungs of a survival bid that felt dead and buried just a couple of weeks earlier, their first points on the road for four matches and their third away win of the campaign. As players began to shuffle out on their way back to the coach, from the away changing room bellowed the unmistakable disco soprano of the Bee Gees. The song was their 1977 top five hit Stayin' Alive.

The irony wasn't lost on Wednesday supporters left smiling at a sneaky video posted on social media by a Sky Sports journalist waiting in the tunnel for his post-match interview slot. Knowing Will Vaulks is one of the changing room's cheekiest of chappies, many laid the song choice at his door.

While the phone playing the music did belong to Mr Vaulks, he insists it was not deliberate, bursting into laughter when told of the social media leak. Press conferences with the Wirral battler are good fun.

"That's crazy," he chuckled. "That was definitely not deliberate but it would have been my 80s wedding playlist. I am to blame for that, it just shows you you can't get away with anything. I would like to say that I didn't scroll down Spotify and pick Staying Alive! I have an 80s feelgood playlist there from my wedding. After the game you make it about the staff, they're all a bit older and you've got to please everybody after the game with some feelgood music. It's funny that's got out there."

He's speaking on a run of three wins from four matches that has seen weight lifted off Wednesday, though it's very much still bearing down on the shoulders of Vaulks and his teammates. Three shy of safety with 12 matches his manager has described as 'cup finals' left to play, their short trip down the Parkway to Rotherham United this week is another seismic test.

Vaulks played 137 times for the Millers, picking up fan favourite status during his time there in very much the way he has at S6. He's a player with the battling qualities supporters love to see on-field, a skillset perhaps made for events such as Saturday when a thunderous tackle or lung-busting track-back can lift the crowd for half a fixture.

Banter between fans of both clubs dictates that a Wednesday v Rotherham clash is or is not a 'derby' fixture depending on your preference for blue or red; Danny Röhl threw his head back in chortle having been caught out calling the clash a derby in his pre-match press conference. It's tongue-in-cheek sacrilege to some. Having tasted both hues of the colour code, the Welsh international is in no doubt.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "Obviously it's an old club of mine as well and I haven't been back since the fans have been in. Look, I don't know if I'm wrong in saying this, but in my eyes it's a local derby. It's not the derby, but any local game is going to be a little bit more feisty and it's a massive game for both football clubs.

"We need to win the game, whether it was Leicester, Southampton, Millwall or Rotherham. Whoever it may be, we need to pick up points. This game does mean more, but because it means more than the last game because we have to win it. It might mean more to the fans but I'm sure whether we beat Rotherham or anyone else the three points would be the main thing for them.

"We're not cruising in mid-table and this has come along as a bigger game. This is a big game because of the situation we're in and we have to embrace that as players."

Rotherham's miserable season has not caught fire in quite the same way as that of Wednesday and they've been marooned at the bottom of the table, 13 points back on the 23rd-placed Owls and 16 behind QPR in the first safety spot. With relegation a certainty barring something historic, it could well be that those behind the scenes at the New York Stadium see a win over Wednesday in front of a sell-out crowd as an opportunity to salvage something. Vaulks nods knowingly.

"Look, I've played for Rotherham," he said. "I know what this game means for that football club. I knew when I was asked to press this would come up and I'm not going to sit here and lie - I know what this game means to Rotherham. We're in a pretty awful position as well by the way. We're in a position where we need to win games. They're not in a great position but they've got nothing to lose in a sense.

"We have to make sure that the edge that will be here in this game, we take as well and push that bit more, but it's hard saying those words because I don't feel I can push much more for any game. If you're not pushing 100 per cent then you shouldn't be on the pitch in my opinion. Bottom line is that a local derby, a local game whatever you want to call it, I relish these opportunities and I'm looking forward to going back to hopefully get the win because we desperately need it."

Vaulks' reception at Rotherham will be interesting. A fan favourite he may well have been, Millers who have gone on to pull on the blue and white stripes don't often get bought a free pint round that way. A three-year stint at Cardiff City stood between his time at the two South Yorkshire clubs to soften a blow that the Summer 2022 switches of Michaels Smith and Ihiekwe did not; though it may well have been that Vaulks had made a similar move in 2019 had stars aligned.

Vaulks said: "I spoke to Wednesday and it just didn't materialise in the end. I won't go into the details of why, but I obviously ended up at Cardiff. It's all come full circle and I've ended up back here. I'm enjoyed my time at the club (Wednesday), it's been turbulent for sure but we've got an exciting end to the season ahead and I'm looking forward to pushing on. Hopefully we can end this season with similar spirits to last year."

That successful end to the season would be helped no end by another three points on Saturday. Matches between the two clubs are often close-fought and scrappy, with a recurring theme of late drama invoking recent images of Kieran Lee, Atdhe Nuhiu and, yes, Freddie Ladapo.

Vaulks' record in the match-up is strong; two draws and a defeat in Rotherham colours and two wins in those of Wednesday. It is one of the draws that he now feels he can smile at when asked to conjure up his memories of what he describes as a 'proper fixture'.

"I remember Dom Iorfa scoring in 90-whatever minutes (Iorfa scored to earn a 2-2 draw on his Wednesday debut at the New York Stadium in the 10th minute of injury time to keep the Millers in the relegation zone back in Febraury 2019 - Rotherham went down).

"I've mentioned it to him a few times, I think it might have been his debut as well. He came on and scored, which was obviously devastating at the time because I was wearing a red shirt at that point! I remember them as feisty games that both teams desperately wanted to to win and give everything for the people that live however many miles from each other, bragging rights at work or whatever that might be.

"I'm not that great with remembering football games, I've played in that many now, but hopefully this one is one that will be well remembered because it gets us three points and that bit closer to getting out of relegation. We need to keep building momentum, we've managed to do that at the moment and we cannot let that go."

In September 1987, a decade on from Stayin' Alive, it was another Bee Gees track - 'You Win Again' - that pierced the UK Singles Chart. Four weeks later it knocked George Michael's 'Faith' off the number one spot. Whether either are heard bouncing from the walls of Sheffield Wednesday's changing room on Saturday evening remain to be seen; that fate will be decided by a combination of the result and Will Vaulks' choice of playlist.

But there's no doubt a third win on the spin would deliver yet more faith that they can pull off something truly remarkable. Derby or no derby, as Vaulks describes, it's a monster of a football match.