Sheffield Wednesday: Defender in the frame to make Owls return against high-flying Bristol City

Tom Lees is in contention to make his Owls comeback against Championship play-off candidates Bristol City this weekend.
Wednesday defender Tom LeesWednesday defender Tom Lees
Wednesday defender Tom Lees

The centre-half suffered a minor setback in his recovery from injury in Wednesday’s development fixture with Hull City just over a week ago.

But Lees is on the mend again and could feature in Saturday’s tough-looking assignment at the seventh-placed Robins.

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Boss JosLuhukay told The Star: “Tom trained on Monday and Tuesday with the Under-23s.

“I hope that we have positive news that he can play. Hopefully he can train Thursday and Friday with us and not have problems. He can maybe be an option for the team.”

It took Lees several months to recover from groin surgery. His last Owls outing came in the draw at Ipswich Town on November 22.

Lees said: “I tried to do everything I could to stay on the pitch but it probably got to the point where it was a little bit stupid of me, to be honest, to carry on playing. If anything, I made it worse.

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“Maybe if I had swallowed my pride a bit earlier I might have been out a couple of weeks rather than a couple of months.

“But that’s the way it goes. I’m a bit too stubborn at times. I have to learn from it.”

As well as Lees, Luhukay may have youngster Jordan Thorniley available for selection. The defender sustained concussion at Millwall last week and sat-out their Hillsborough defeat to Aston Villa. He was cup-tied for their loss at Swansea City in midweek.

Luhukay is likely to make a number of changes to his threadbare team in search of a winning formula. Wednesday have lost their last three matches on the bounce.

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He said: “We know our situation. We tried to get to the next round (of the FA Cup) but we didn’t play against an easy club. Swansea are a good team and well-organised. The tie was in the balance in the first half. If we had scored the first goal, I think it would have made it very difficult for Swansea. But Swansea scored first and that made a big difference.”