“Big blow..” Sheffield Wednesday boss makes Josh Windass and George Byers admission amid cryptic social media post

A spirited fightback in a 2-2 draw at Cheltenham Town was too little too late in terms of ending a whirlwind run of winless matches.

And again Wednesday were unable to grapple control of the match – something they have been able to do time and again even in away matches up until this latest run of matches.

As has become a theme the club continue to play their cards close to their chest on any expected timescales for the recovery of key pair George Byers and Josh Windass – both of whom have sat out the bulk of the last four matches.

Both players appear to have sent time away from Sheffield since falling injured, with Byers having posted on social media from his hometown in Essex and Windass having posted a photo clearly taken abroad on Thursday morning.

Moore did admit the recovery of Windass is looking more promising than that of Byers – though both are still to be fully assessed.

“They won't be back for next week,” Moore said after the Cheltenham draw. “We'll have to assess them and once we do that we'll have more detail.

“With Josh, he's the one we're more hopeful on. But I won't get drawn into anything just now because I want us to properly assess everything before we give anything out to the supporters in terms of where he is at. George is more of a concern.”

Byers was injured in Wednesday’s win at Portsmouth – their last victory – while Windass hobbled out late of the home draw with Bolton.

Natural lines have been drawn between the absences of two of their most impactful players and a downturn in results, one Moore admitted was a concern particularly given the frantic nature of the recent fixture schedule.

“We're missing a couple of bodies and that leaves us short in terms of the run of games we've had,” he told The Star. “They're two players you would argue are first choice on the teamsheet going forward. They contribute so much to us in terms of controlling games.

“They're different. Josh is different to Greggers and Smudger where he can come of and create overloads or go in behind. George with his vision and his passing ability at the base of midfield, he makes things tick. To lose those two at this stage it is [a blow]. But we've had to be adaptable to it.”

Moore’s side have battled through injury issues for the majority of the season and given chance to take a breath heading into further fixtures, he has backed them to do it again regardless of how long the pair are likely to be out for.

“The players have shown that adaptability and they're going to have to continue doing that,” To lose them is a big blow but to lose Callum Paterson, Icky, Ben, they've all been big blows that we suffered but had to get on with it.

“To lose those kinds of players in that adversity has been a blow, but we've got on with it and we've not moaned and we'll continue. Hopefully in the weeks to come we'll get Pato and Icky back to add to that group, which will be a welcome boost. Then hopefully we'll get more news on Josh and George.”

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