Darren Moore addresses fan base anxiety – Sheffield Wednesday refreshed by mini-break

And sat without a win in their last five League One matches, anxiety as to the legs of Wednesday’s title bid has been sparked – despite their position at the top of the table – as they head into a vital weekend of back-to-back matches against relegation battlers Oxford United and Accrington Stanley.

Asked the importance of the Owls achieving a win at the Kassam Stadium not only for the title bid but to ease the reaction of a supporter base nervous as to , Moore said: “I expect that reaction from the fan base if we had gone two games without a win.

“What I’m getting at is that since I arrived here, it’s all about winning games. That’s always been the purpose and the focus. We’ve brought that winning mentality to the club over the last few years.

“Of course there’s that [concern] because we’ve gone more than a couple of games without winning.

“To go six, of course we don’t want that. We understand we’re in a competitive game and we’re competing week on week. We’ll keep our focus and momentum on the games and continue working hard.”

Moore has spoken a number of times about the need for togetherness at S6 – one he feels has been built in two years of improvement on and off the field.

“What we have brought is hope and expectation to the football club and rightly so – that’s what we’re here for,” Moore said. “It’s a very competitive league and sometimes the games you see on paper that don’t go for you, it doesn’t always work that way. That’s football and it’s season after season.

“For the boys to have done what they have done over such a consistent basis, you have to say that the mentality of them has been second to none. We don’t harbour on what’s gone, we look forward and put all our energy into that game.

“Even at this stage there is a lot of football to be played. If you start looking too far ahead, you start losing the focus and goal.”

Six days between matches has been something of a luxury for Wednesday in recent weeks – they’ve played more than any other side since their winless run kicked off three weeks ago.

And Moore is confident a few days to recharge away from match action will help them grab a momentum-turning three points.

He continued: “That has been the biggest thing but it has given us a bit of time to get down to one or two and get those simple basics done well.

“Over the course of the time it’s balanced us out and given the players that recovery time; all those knocks, bruises, scrapes, we’ve been able to give them a rest and recover. I’m sure the team has benefited from that.

“Without a doubt you can see that energy. You’re able to implement more in training, you’re not travelling so much and cutting down training time.

“There are training sessions we can do that are used to recover the players, or that can trigger that boost of energy with the players.

“They’ve been a welcome few days.”

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