Healing of Sheffield Wednesday Achilles heel powered by ‘personal pride’, says in-form favourite

That’s according to Owls defender Ben Heneghan, who is one of the players to have gone some way to healing an ‘Achilles heel’ issue that was a contributing factor to last season’s failed promotion attempt.

The giant centre-half signed in the summer as one of several six-foot-plenty additions and as part of a recruitment push designed to offer more physicality.

Wednesday conceded a division-high 38% of goals from set pieces last season, an area that saw opposition teams target time and again and cost the Owls vital points in a season they fell just five points short of automatic promotion.

Though the season is still in its early stages and no backs are being slapped in congratulation just yet, the numbers are far better when it comes to goals conceded in that manner; only two from a total of 12 and a halved percentage of 17%.

Heneghan explained his satisfaction at the improvement of the figure and said he intended to improve it further.

Asked to explain the strides taken, he said: “We've got a shape, our zonal side of it with our centre-backs and guys like Smudger [Michael Smith] and Greggers [Lee Gregory]. We do have that physical presence there.

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“We know it's up to us to have that responsibility and to go and head it if we can and I feel like the structure and organisation has felt good.

“We have to keep it up and keep things tight and make sure it's a fortress, really. We know what we're dealing with and we have to go and do it.”

In the likes of Heneghan and Michael Ihiekwe, Moore signed experienced League One battlers known for the leadership capabilities. Having both worked their way up from non-league, shirking responsibility is not an option.

“It's about personal pride,” Heneghan said. “If that ball falls in my area, I have to go and throw my head at it. That goes for the other guys, Icky [Ihiekwe] as well.

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“It's about backing each other and knowing what we can do for each other as well. We trust each other and that's important.”