On the bench but not ready: Massimo Luongo update plus injury blow to in-form Sheffield Wednesday defender
The Owls crashed to a 2-0 defeat at relegation rivals Coventry City on Wednesday evening and sit six points adrift of the safety places.
Fellow strugglers Derby and Rotherham picked up impressive wins to contribute to what has been a fairly bleak midweek for the Hillsborough club.
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Hide AdBut they hope to welcome back Australian international Luongo back soon in what would be a monumental injury boost. The 28-year-old made the bench at St Andrews but hasn’t played since coming off at half-time in an early-December defeat at Huddersfield.
Asked about the condition of his troublesome knee, Wednesday caretaker boss Neil Thompson said: “Massimo is back on the grass, he got on the bench tonight. He wasn’t quite right to start the game, but we’ll see how he shapes up this week.
“He came back after his cartilage operation and played a lot of games quite quickly, he had a bit of a setback.
“He’s one of a number that are back involved and at the end of the day it’s about trying to juggle the pack and making sure we get the right combination.”
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Hide AdThompson also revealed that in-form defender Moses Odubajo was left out due to a hamstring injury and was also to offer an update on defender Chey Dunkley.
The stand-in coach said: “He picked up a hamstring injury the other week, so that’ll be a little bit of time. I don’t know how long really, but he won’t be back for the weekend.
“Moses got into a little bit form without a shadow of a doubt, but Liam is back now and he’ll be back again for the next game. It was good he got 80 minutes tonight. It’s all hands to the pump at the minute.
“Chey is back on the grass, he’ll be training this week and we’ll assess it. We want people to come back and stay back, we don’t want people coming back, playing and being out for more weeks. We want them back for the rest of the season.”