‘I enjoy it!’ - Sheffield Wednesday’s David Stockdale laughs off fan chants

The experienced shot-stopper wasn’t particularly busy at Wham Stadium, but made one vital save to keep the scores level on the way to victory for Darren Moore’s side.

It took Wednesday 27 games to get to nine clean sheets last season – this time around they’ve done it in 18 matches - and Stockdale has got more than any other goalkeeper in the division.

He got a bit of stick from the fans behind the goal in the second half after switching ends in Lancashire over the weekend, but the 37-year-old takes it all in good fun and says that it’s an element of the game that he actually enjoys.

“I have a good rapport with them,” he said with a grin. “Well, it’s good for me, because I do well here! But no, they know that I’m one that can give and take it - and I enjoy it.

“It’s one of them where if you’re winding them up then you have to back it up on the pitch, so it kind of gives you that extra bit of concentration.

“Fan interaction, whatever happens, will always be a big, big part of football. Being able to know that we’re real people, and that you can shout what you like, and if I turn around and smile then they’ll give me ‘Whaay’.

“It’s not a hatred, they want their team to win and I understand that. But I want my team to win more, so it’s banter. It very rarely goes further than that.

“If you play with fire, you’ll get burnt.”

‘Stocko’ is the only member of Moore’s squad that has played every single minute of their League One campaign so far, and he’s expected to line up once again on Saturday when Shrewsbury Town make the trip to Hillsborough.

Wednesday are currently eight points ahead of where they were at at this point last season, and only Manchester City (+26) and Arsenal (+22) have a better goal difference than the Owls (+18) in the top four tiers of English football.

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