Adam Reach on how Steve Bruce has brought the buzz back to Sheffield Wednesday
The spark is back at Sheffield Wednesday and midfielder Adam Reach says the Owls’ recent success is thanks to Steve Bruce’s back to basics approach and confidence in his players.
Bruce is now ten matches into his Wednesday career and is yet to lose, lifting his side to 10th in the Championship and just two points off the play-off places with eight games to go until the end of the campaign.
And Reach, who has this week been nominated for the EFL Goal of the Year award for his strike against West Bromwich Albion in October, believes Bruce's recipe for success has been a simple one.
Reach told the Star: “He's instilled a confidence in us that we were lacking.
“He's told us all how good we are and he's gone back to basics a little bit, just telling us to work hard and to compete and have a compact shape and go from there.
“I think we have done that but we have also added a little bit of a spark going forward and I think the crowd at Hillsborough have been entertained a lot more recently than they have been in the last few months. There are lots of positives.
“There are still things we can work on but we can address those things before the next game.”
Confidence from both the squad and fans is not something that is guaranteed to walk in the door with a new manager, but Wednesday’s transition under caretaker managers Lee Bullen and Steve Agnew appear to have laid the foundations for Bruce to hit the ground running.
Nine-goal Reach has been ever-present for the Owls this season, racking up 42 appearances so far in all competitions.
And the versatile midfielder says that concentration will be key if he is to hit his personal target of a double figures goal tally and if Wednesday want to sustain their play-off push.
“The only way that happens is when the results go the way the fans want them to and the players want them to,” he said.
“We have done that of late and of course the confidence in the stadium and within ourselves is going to be high but we need to keep our concentration because one bad result and one bad performance can quickly evaporate that.
“We'll just keep it going and trust the players we have because at the minute all the players are doing well.
“We don’t need to change anything, performances have been good and we are scoring goals, not conceding many, picking up points and hopefully that continues.”