Big Ben Heneghan is stamping out any doubts over Sheffield Wednesday step-up with stellar pre-season

Well, it took as many days to win the Falklands war. You can squeeze in about one-and-a-half ‘Tony Pulis at Sheffield Wednesday’ tenures.

Or if you’re Darren Moore, you can tweak and push and pull a football club into looking something a little bit different.

Because Wednesday welcomed La Liga side Rayo Vallecano to Hillsborough on Wednesday evening just 74 days after their last matchday on home soil – their devastating play-off second leg defeat to Sunderland.

And though seven of the starting 11 were plucked from last season’s squad, though the system was largely the same and the coaching staff untouched, there was a freshness to proceedings.

How much can you really take from a 2-0 friendly defeat against La Liga opposition that beat Barcelona twice last season? Not masses.

But there were causes for conversation out there.

Shaping up

Wednesday lined up in a similar shape to the one utilised for the majority of last season.

Barry Bannan operated the highest of the midfield three and found himself pockets of space he used well, Dennis Adeniran broke the lines well and out wide, Jack Hunt and Marvin Johnson created some nice overloads and both offered their best outings of the summer so far.

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They played from the back when they could and were more circumspect when required. The delivery of new goalkeeper David Stockdale will aid their cause on that front.

Elswehere? Josh Windass looked a real handful in the second half in particular – did his long-range shot cross the line? It felt like it.

They came on strong and though they failed to score, they had one or two chances against good opposition.

Open the Vaulks

Will Vaulks was the last of seven new signings to pull on Wednesday colours after a niggle to his quad prevented an earlier outing.

The Wales international only rejoined full team training early this week and got valuable minutes into the legs, covering the space as the deepest of the midfield three before taking his leave at half-time. It was a tidy outing.

Of the other new boys, Akin Famewo looked hugely comfortable on the left of the back three and made a handsome block on the half-hour, which prompted Stockdale to race out of his box and congratulate him.

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Left out of Friday’s Bournemouth game with a touch of tightness, he too left the field at the break.

One man gets a mention of his own..

Virgil Ben Dijk

It’s just a sub-heading in a light-hearted pre-season piece – we’re not getting carried away.

But everything Ben Heneghan did he did well, without fuss and with the sort of aura around him that big lads who play well at centre-back tend to carry.

There were tackles, headers and blocks, but also nice touches and a cross-field ball to Marvin Johnson that showed the big lad can play a bit, too. He could have scored twice.

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One or two folk that have played with him in the past are surprised it’s taken him this long to get to a club like Sheffield Wednesday. It’s early days but at 28 and with notches on the bedpost, it might just be the ideal time.