Sheffield Wednesday: '˜It would take a miracle for the Owls to get into the top six'

If you are connected to the Owls in any way, shape or form, the table makes for grim reading.

Things have not gone according to plan and Wednesday lie in 16th spot, a whopping 16 points off the play-off placings with 14 matches remaining.

Given the lavish amounts of money the Owls have invested in their squad and the relative success they enjoyed in the two previous campaigns, the team have majorly under-achieved this time around.

“I think it would take pretty much a miracle for us to get into the top six,” Hunt told The Star.

“It has been a very disappointing season but one that I’m sure, for the rest of my career, I will never be involved in again with the amount of injuries that we have had to key players.

“Unless we went on a magnificent run and won every game, I can’t see us making the top six.

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“We have to win as many games as possible and create a good atmosphere and good platform to go again next season. That’s the most important thing.”

There is a big rebuilding job to be done at Hillsborough over the summer but manager Jos Luhukay has succeeded in making the side harder to break down in the short-term. Wednesday have chalked up six clean sheets in his nine matches at the helm.

Hunt, who has been deployed as a right wing back, said: “We have got that organisation at the moment and it has not been with the same personnel every single game.

“We have been chopping and changing so credit to everyone who has been ready to come in.

“There have been a few players who have not had much game time recently and they have come in and fitted in well.

“Moving forward, the manager knows he can count on every single player now.”

The 27-year-old has praised the job Luhukay has done in stabalising the Owls. He admits the Dutchman’s regime is a “lot different” to his predecessor Carlos Carvalhal’s set-up.

He said: “When you change manager, they all come in with new styles and new beliefs.

“I think the 3-5-2 system really suits and compliments this team at the moment with the players that we have fit.

“People have got to be ready when they are called upon.”

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Despite a crippling injury list, Wednesday showed plenty of spirit and determination in Saturday’s goalless draw with Swansea City. The result means the Owls will head to South Wales for an FA Cup fifth round replay a week today. It also sets up another meeting with their former boss Carvalhal.

“It was good to see Carlos but, when you cross that white line, you forget about what’s happening around you and you concentrate on the game,” insisted Hunt. “It was nice to see him afterwards and I’m glad he’s doing really well there.

“We can take a lot of positives from the Swansea game. We kept a clean sheet against a Premier League side.

“It was a game of two halves.

“There was a lot of good football on show without there being too many chances.”

The prize for the winner of the tie is a quarter-final showdown tussle at home to either Tottenham Hotspurs or Rochdale next month.

Hunt said: “It’s going to be different down there (Swansea) because they are going to have to take the game a little more to us.

“We will do our research on how they like to play at home compared to away and will be looking to take the game to them.”

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