Could Josh Windass be Sheffield Wednesday's modern day Steven MacLean as they aim for repeat of playoff glory?

The returning striker, who came off the bench after 16 matches away in the Owls’ thrilling 3-2 victory at Fleetwood Town on Tuesday evening, has struggled with injuries all season but has already shown he has the capability to affect big moments in comeback appearances.

It has prompted supporters to draw parallels between his and the reappearance of striker Steven MacLean the last time they were faced with the task of promotion through the League One playoffs – when top scorer MacLean emerged from the bench after nearly three months away to net a penalty in the final.

Windass has more time to make such an important impact of course but will be keen to hit the ground running as the Owls go into the final match of the regular season with work still to do to secure a playoff spot.

“We are really pleased to have him back,” Moore told the media after the Fleetwood turnaround in which Windass’ attacking partner Lee Gregory bagged a hat-trick. “It was massive for him.

“He picked up some good positions and had a couple of efforts. He had one at the end with his left foot where he was probably a little ring rusty but we are really pleased to have his attacking prowess back in the team.”

Portsmouth will arrive at Hillsborough in good form hopeful of spoiling the fun of 33,500 expectant supporters.

Moore took plenty of food for thought from Tuesday’s evening’s clash, not least the need to sharpen up his defence after two poor piece of defending saw them ship goals in a topsy-turvy first half.

Moore said: “It serves as a reminder that we need to keep tidying up our work. We’re far from the finished article.

“Both goals were avoidable and even though there was a foul on George [Byers], it was the lead-up [to the second goal]. It was totally avoidable.

“We had it at Wycombe where they defended it a low block and we had to learn from it. We utilised the wide areas really well to create overloads and looked more threatening.”