Alex Miller: Sun shining, four back.. Are the football gods finally turning the way of Sheffield Wednesday?

It would be nice if they all came back from injury fit and firing and bang on form, if the treatment table was emptied and stayed empty, if there was a royal rumble of healthy competition in every position between now and the end of the season.

While we’re in the business of wishes, we’ll have a conveyor belt of handsome wins, both home and away, and the sort of performances that encourage lapsed Wednesday supporters back to Hillsborough for a glorious run-in.

Let’s have the sun shining on Wednesday fans, both on the Cambridge match this Saturday and at a big stadium down south we daren’t mention on that date we’ll leave unmentioned, too.

Because, let’s be fair, the Owls haven’t had anything like the sort of luck they might have fancied this season. Even the harshest critic of Darren Moore’s first full season in the Hillsborough dugout wouldn’t argue it. To a degree you make your own luck, sure, but it’s felt like one thing after another.

The double-barrelled injury crisis – felt most notably in November and in more recent weeks – has torn the gut out of the squad for much of the season. They’ve got on with it and though opinions differ on just how well, the fact is that they’ve kept themselves well within shooting distance.

The last six weeks or so in particular have been mightily impressive.

So for all the struggles and the concerns and the disappointing results, things have been turning to the positive for some time. And photographs released by the club this morning kept that feeling of upward momentum rolling.

The returns to training of no fewer than four senior players provides Wednesday fans with further cause for optimism as we enter the white knuckle end of the League One season.

Josh Windass’ impact in a short few weeks proved just what a menace he can be in this division; his finishing and movement in particular signs of a player operating below the level he should be.

Together with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, he offers a directness that sets third tier defences into panic and brings teammates into the game. The return of those two completely changes the game for Wednesday in the final third.

Olamide Shodipo, a star of preseason, has a point to prove and hopefully a freshness ready to burst back onto the scene.

Harlee Dean’s influence was felt over a short time but his is a playing style the Owls have cried out for in their lower points since his injury. When he and Chey Dunkley return there’s now a frankly ridiculous battle for centre-half minutes to be had and that’s only a good thing.

It further powers home the notion that Wednesday no have no excuses to lean on and that with their squad swelling, with all the undoubted quality in it and with the fixture schedule set up as it is, a place in the top six is now expected rather than hoped for.

The winter of injury discontent seems to be in Wednesday’s rearview mirror; touch wood, fingers crossed et cetra and so on.

Let’s hope the Owls can kick on again and go about securing a spot at that stadium down south as we head into spring.