Owls fans column: Solid defence will be tested against high-flying Brighton and Hove Albion

Only Leeds United and Brighton and Hove Albion, our hosts tonight, have won more games than us in the past 10 fixtures.

In those 10 matches, the Owls have recorded six wins, three draws and one loss to Reading.

Where we are excelling is in defence. In the previous 10 games Wednesday have kept clean sheets in six of them and only conceded five goals.

At home we are the proverbial fortress because we haven’t conceded a goal since the Preston North End game on December 3.

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We’re going to need these defensive qualities against Brighton who look more potent than they did last season and after their play-off disappointment, they seem more determined.

The Seagulls’ defeat to an ever resilient Preston last Saturday, was their first defeat since September.

It’s going to be a big ask for the Owls but we have the ability and maybe a bit of luck on our side at the moment.

Beating Huddersfield Town was an important result.

It showed we could compete with other play-off contenders but most of all it put clear daylight between us and Derby County.

We are now five points clear and sitting nicely in the sixth play-off position. Brighton may need the points to usurp Newcastle from the top spot but the Owls need a result to consolidate our position.

There’s no question that we need to perform better, even though we are getting the results.

The frustrating first half highlights of the Huddersfield game, on the big screen, even included part of the minute’s applause for the late Graham Taylor. That is how frustrating our performance was.

We’ll counter-attack on Friday and if form persists our defence should prevail.

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