Owls Fans Column: Hooper's '˜scruffy' goals are a delight

The striker is finding a new lease of life under Carlos Carvalhal and it’s exciting to see.

Hooper’s seven goals could prove to be some of the most important in Sheffield Wednesday’s season.

The brace that he scored against Birmingham City in our phenomenal turnaround were both exquisite and essential for our play-off hopes.

We may focus on goals like his first against Birmingham but what makes me happy is we finally have a forward who can score the scruffy goals.

What I mean by that is in the past we rarely had players in the box that could just stick a foot out and take advantage.

Hooper is proving that he’s always there.

The combination of Hooper, Foresteri and Nuhiu is working very well and I’ll keep saying it, Atdhe may not be prolific but a player like Hooper needs a player like him to hold the ball up. Gary is reaping the benefits of the team’s support.

I’ve seen some Wednesday fans asking whether Hooper is the best striker we’ve had since David Hirst.

I have an almost religious fanaticism about David Hirst and think that Hooper has a very long way to go before he reaches the heights of Hirsty but he has definitely shown what can happen when a player is settled and happy in a team.

We’re currently on 50 points with 15 fixtures to play.

When you consider that we achieved a total of 60 points last season, we have progressed so much under Carvalhal and Chasiri.

The investment helps of course when you compare the players we signed last January to our signings this season.

Gary Hooper is proving to be a Championship gem.