The hint of Garry Monk work that could be seen in Sheffield Wednesday’s late winner at Bournemouth

Having stepped in to take charge of a side completely bereft of confidence and drifting into relegation certainty, Neil Thompson and Lee Bullen have Wednesday playing their best football in over a year and have achieved the Owls’ greatest seven-match points haul since the run-in of the 2016/17 season.

But there was more than just a little hint of something from what former managers Garry Monk wanted to achieve with two of his players in their dramatic late winner at Bournemouth on Tuesday evening.

Monk, who left the club three months ago after a turbulent time at Hillsborough, was known to his squad players as a manager high in detail and the improvement of very specific skills on the training field.

His wide men, including Kadeem Harris, were encouraged to deliver first-time balls into the box, something they worked on relentlessly in pre-season, so much so that Harris himself joked about the amount of time put into those drills when in conversation with The Star back in August.

But when his stunning first-time cross found its way into the six-yard box last night, it was goalscorer Jordan Rhodes that most brazenly displayed the sort of attributes that he was encouraged to develop further during Monk’s reign.

The former Leeds United manager had several meetings and conversations with Rhodes about the need to be more aggressive, The Star understands, with a focus not only in terms of his movement, but in challenging for one-to-one duels and in his general conduct in matches.

Rhodes would often be pitted against the likes of Dominic Iorfa in one-to-one heading drills in Monk’s attempts to bring this to life, time on the training field that would sometimes leave the forward feeling disillusioned.

But it was time well spent if it had any impact on last night, as the 30-year-old scrambled to rise above Bournemouth right-back Adam Smith and head home an imperious winner.

All praise must be on Thompson and co for bringing Rhodes to life in his last couple of appearances, but there were one or two minor Monkisms in what could prove to be an important moment in the Owls’ season.

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