Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk on what the Owls' performance against Leeds means for their promotion credentials

The result, which keeps Wednesday within three points of top of the table West Brom a third of the way through the season, provided a marker for where the club are at, Monk said, having had the better of the fixture against the title favourites.

The 40-year-old stopped well short of launching an assault at promotion, but admitted the afternoon’s work showed they are heading in the right direction for what he described as their ‘ultimate aim’.

Wednesday remain unbeaten in league matches at home under Monk’s reign. He said: “We’re in a good place, but there’s a lot of football and a long, long way to go before we start to discuss what it is we can achieve.

“Of course, the ultimate aim at a club like this is to get back into the Premier League.”

Monk said he was aware of the excitement building among supporters. Asked whether he has had a conversation with his players about their promotion credentials, he said: “There’s no need at this moment in time.

“It’s great to be in a healthy position, we’re all aware [of the league table] and we’d rather be where we are, but I think it’s about competing right now. We need to be with each other and grow.

“We know what the team is capable of, but we’ll face lots of sides that know the quality that they have.”

Picking up the club in 11th place, Monk has taken them to within a win of the table’s summit with only one league defeat in that time. The simple aim, he said, is to continue churning out positive results week-in, week-out.

“We’re doing well,” he said. “It’s about consistency in this league, that’s what you need. But the key coming in here, whilst you’ve got a chance to work on a few things, is to put the players in a position mentally and physically to compete.

“We’ve done that really well. We’ve picked up points while we’ve been doing that and that’s a credit to the players.”