Honest Josh Windass makes passionate Sheffield Wednesday fan plea for young players

Sheffield Wednesday attacker Josh Windass has spoken passionately about the raised expectation of his side this season - and has rallied for Owls fans to be at their hulking, intimidating pinnacle no matter the score line in order to help younger players flourish.

The matter-of-fact forward is now a senior player within the Wednesday squad having stepped into his sixth season at S6 and was a star performer in a comeback outing on Saturday that saw QPR peg them back to 1-1 in remarkable circumstances in injury time. Players and Owls boss Danny Röhl have appealed for patience from those around the club as they continue to navigate the start of the season following a whirlwind of changes throughout the summer.

Windass said he could feel the frustration of fans at pitch level heading into the last minutes of the match. The game saw Wednesday take the lead in injury time through skipper Barry Bannan, who cupped his ears towards the crowd in celebration. The former Rangers man spoke glowingly on the club’s support and wants the club to use the passionate fan base for good and bring the very best out of its players.

“You know what I'm like when I do press, I'm just honest and say what I feel,” Windass told The Star post-match. “We have the best crowd in the division but sometimes I feel like when we're drawing and a pass goes astray - I think Baz hooked one at the end - it's like a meltdown.

“We've got young players. I was 21 at Rangers, I know sometimes it's hard (at a big club) when you're not in form - sometimes it’s hard when you’re in form, by the way. Maybe you're not scoring or whatever, you might want to do a pass or try a trick and you second-guess it because last time they might've got some grief or whatever, do you know what I mean? We've got some lads with serious talent. If we're bottom of the league in January then you can look back and call me an absolute clown for saying what I'm saying. We'll do alright.”

With Windass at the heart of the push, Wednesday staged a remarkable second half of the season last time out to secure Championship safety. Together with the new contract signed by Röhl, their flurry of transfer business and the pre-season prediction of players that a push at play-off football could be within their grasp, some sections of the fan base have voiced their frustration at a start to the season that has now seen them go four league matches without a win.

Wednesday has the better of the game against QPR but failed to score until the 93rd minute. Asked why they weren’t able to convert their dominance into more goals, a passionate Windass followed his manager in appealing for calm as they continue to navigate the early stages of the campaign. "Because we're Sheffield Wednesday players and we don't play for Real Madrid,” he said. “When we play in this stadium it could be 70 minutes of dominating and sometimes it feels like you're 7-0 down!

"It's actually really frustrating sometimes. I'm sticking up for all my team-mates because it's sometimes a bit difficult to play in. You've got lads who are so confident, playing well, and all of a sudden a little pass goes astray and all of a sudden the whole world's coming down on everybody. I thought we were absolutely excellent, especially in the second half. People get tired 70 minutes onwards but we kept dominating the game, creating chance after chance after chance.

"I missed a few chances in the first half, Ugs missed a few - everybody knows Ugs scores goals, everybody knows I score goals. We've got Olaf, there's Musa on the bench, Gas, really good players and we'll be a good team this season, we just need a bit of realistic expectation. We stayed up last season on the final day. To be where we are now, we shouldn't really be in this division after the start we had last season but we are and we deserved to be after the performances we put in at the end of last season.

"I just want all my team-mates to play with full confidence. I fully believe we've got the best crowd in the league when everyone is on our side. We've seen teams come here and buckle under the atmosphere of our own supporters. We've got players who are playing with confidence they've got skills and ability, they've got everything so we just need to back our own team.

“I think it's a catch-22, you play like that and win 4-0 (against Plymouth), you're going to be confident aren't you. You go into the Sunderland game, they score in two set pieces, you lose four nil and suddenly you're the worst team ever to play the game. But as I said, we worked really hard in the international break. What the gaffer has said about team players, obviously I can't comment on that, I don't know who is and who isn't, but we trained really well and everything we did in training came off. If we go into half-time at 3-0 it's different and football is a game of ifs, buts and maybes.”

Some 141 matches into his Owls career, Windass has seen the highs and lows of life at S6 from relegation to the headline role of a remarkable promotion. He reiterated he knows just how powerful the crowd can be at wants to harness that feeling to ensure the club are able to push on - rather than over-expose younger players to the pressures of playing for one of the biggest clubs in the country.

He continued: "Look, they can do whatever they want, it's just sometimes hard. I've played at big clubs, I've played for Rangers and here and it's not always easy when people are groaning when it's 0-0 but we're dominating a football match.

"I understand that I,Baz and other players get criticised but that comes with the expectations - we're good players, I guess. I just want all my team-mates who I can see have got serious ability flourishing and doing really well for the team.”

The QPR draw served as a gut-punch after a much-improved performance. A melee ensued in the moments leading into Alfie Lloyd’s poked equaliser in the 96th minute, with Röhl left questioning the validity of the goal having spotted an earlier foul on Anthony Musaba. Wednesday sit 20th in the Championship table after just five matches and Windass took great value from the nature of the performance.

"I thought we were excellent, I thought we played really well and all the hard work we did in the international break came off,” he said. “I thought we could have been 4-0 up at half-time. We weren't, we obviously scored late and conceded after, which was disappointing. It was a bit of a mad goal. I didn't even see where the ball was, it was just 15 bodies on the ball. It was madness.

“I honestly don't know where the ball was, I just saw everyone running to get in the way, then I saw them celebrating because the ball was in the net. It was disappointing to concede a foul soon after we scored and the carnage that went on doesn't really happen often.”