Sheffield Wednesday: We have to beat Millwall by any means necessary, admits Owls star

The Owls have won just one of their last seven Championship matches and a chorus of boos greeted the full-time whistle following Saturday’s draw with local rivals Barnsley.

Wednesday, sitting in 16th position in the Championship, face Millwall tomorrow night in the second part of their Hillsborough double-header aiming to pick up three points to ease the pressure on head coach Carlos Carvalhal.

And Reach, who bagged a fortuitous 34th minute opener against the Reds, told The Star: “It’s vital everyone sticks together.

“There is always going to be pressures and we are trying our best not to let any negative feelings or thoughts enter the dressing room.

“People were angry after the game and people vented their frustration out at each other but I think that’s a good thing because it shows everyone cares.

“We have another game on Tuesday and another chance to pick up three points at home.

“Millwall is vital for us. We need to get a win and hopefully we can back it up at Villa Park.

“We know we have quality to to put a run together. We showed last season we can do it when we put six wins on the bounce together.

“We need a little lucky break. We don’t care how we get the win on Tuesday even if it is ugly. We just need to pick up three points.”

He accepts the Owls have to tighten up defensively to resurrect their promotion push.

“It’s disappointing we are not keeping as many clean sheets as we did last year,” said Reach. “I thought that was the foundation of our success.

“We kept 16 clean sheets but unfortunately we are not keeping them at the minute.

“We work on it and Joost [van Aken] has come in and he has been working on the defensive stuff so he knows what he’s doing.

“It’s difficult to put your finger on why we are conceding goals. If it is something you could identify, you would quickly try to put that right.

“If we had got a second or third goal against Barnsley, even if we had conceded we would have won the game. We have to concede less and score more.”

Wednesday have suffered a big blow with the news that Sam Hutchinson requires knee surgery. The injury is expected to keep the midfielder on the sidelines for a lengthy period.