Sheffield Wednesday: Tom Lees urges Owls to lay down a marker in the last six matches

Third-placed Fulham visit Hillsborough this afternoon looking to stretch their club-record unbeaten league run to 19 matches.

Although there is currently 13 places and 28 points separating the two clubs, Lees is confident Wednesday will give a good account of themselves. The Owls are in high spirits, having won their last three matches.

“The last six matches are a chance to put a marker down for next season,” said Lees.

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“On Saturday, we get a chance to see where we are at against arguably the top team in the division at the moment on form.

“If we are miles away, we will know. But if we are on the right track, we are back to improving and knowing we are doing something okay. It will be a good marker for us.”

Stand-in captain Lees said he has “been really hurt” by Wednesday’s struggles this term. Big things were expected of the Owls following back-to-back play-offs but the South Yorkshire club are languishing at the wrong end of the table.

“I think it is always difficult when the team loses that momentum and almost that feelgood factor around the place,” said Lees. “That can be quite difficult to turn around.

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“But I think if you look at what we did when we lost the Play-Off Final, we came back and that wasn’t an easy thing to do. We competed and we got into the play-offs and then we had the disappointment again. This season, we haven’t coped as well so it will be interesting to see what we do next season after the disappointment of this season.

“We have got a way to go in terms of improving. That’s clear and the stats and figures don’t lie this season. We need to be better because everybody will improve next year.

“The teams coming down will make the league better. I think we have got a way to go and we need to not shy away from that.”

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