“I promise you..” How Sheffield Wednesday are tackling the pursuit of Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town

And in what feels like a relentless pace at the top of the League One table, Sheffield Wednesday’s pursuit of early leaders Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town goes on as they look to enter the automatic promotion places for the first time since the opening weeks of last season.

It’s been a relentless pace that if continued would lead to a record-breaking points requirement when it comes to achieving automatic promotion.

Ipswich won in an early kick-off on Saturday to swipe away any chance of the Owls moving into the top two over the weekend – but a late, late equaliser for Burton Albion in a 2-2 draw with Plymouth Argyle knocked two points off the deficit to top spot.

Speaking half an hour or so after his side’s win over Shrewsbury Town it was clear Moore was unaware of the scores elsewhere, with the Wednesday boss offering an image of laser focus as the turn into the second half of the campaign draws ever closer.

“I’m not looking at them. I promise you,” Moore said. “I just look at Sheffield Wednesday and work on keeping our consistency going.

“If I allowed myself to look elsewhere then my focus goes off this job. My job is to focus on us as a team.”

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Wednesday are unbeaten in 11 matches with a hugely impressive points-per-game ratio of 2.1. There’s a long, long way to go in the League One season, Moore made clear, and despite these impressive numbers his side are still very much on a journey of improvement with each game.

“We’re just focusing on ourselves,” he said ahead of the game. “We don’t look outside, we don’t sound off or anything else. We just look at what we’re about as a team and a club.

“Once we’ve dealt with a game, we just turn the page and head onto the next one because that next game and opposition deserves all our attention in terms of earning three points.”

Wednesday’s win over Shrewsbury Town on Saturday opened up a nine-point gap on fourth-placed Peterborough, who lost at Bristol Rovers.

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And though the table may currently look like a three-horse race is shaping up, Moore knows all too well the vagaries of a long third tier season can change very quickly.

His focus is simple – making Sheffield Wednesday the best football team he possibly can. The noise around all that? It’s for others to concern themselves with.

He said: “I know the highs and lows that the season can bring, I know the unexpected results it can bring and the good results it can bring – it’s all part and parcel of a football season.

“It’s important we don’t look too far ahead. It’s just about improving as individuals and being a collective, trying to win games in a very good league with some excellent teams.

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“Even with the run of games and the good feeling we’ve had, we’ve still got to get better and there’s still work to do. We don’t believe the hype and it’s about being the best version of ourselves in terms of being a team.”