Sheffield Wednesday: Steve Bruce has made us a ‘proper club’ again

The certainty that a party will happen for the Owls’ Yorkshire rivals still hangs in the balance however, as Marcelo Bielsa’s men slog it out with Sheffield United for the second automatic promotion berth.

A Wednesday win is a must if they are to cling to any slim hope of making the top six, but it would also help out the Blades in an odd new dynamic for the two Steel City clubs.

With six points now separating Wednesday from a play-off spot despite their mid-week win against Nottingham Forest, Boyd is hopeful that momentum will work in the Owls’ favour.

“We have proved we can beat anyone on our day so we will go there full of confidence,” he said.

“We should have won on Saturday [against Aston Villa].

“They are the form team in the league and we have demolished them second half so we took a lot of confidence from that and it showed against Forest.

“We were very down after Saturday because I thought we did enough to win the game.

“It took us about half an hour to get going against Forest but once we got in the flow we fully deserved the win.”

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The defeat against Aston Villa was the first of the Steve Bruce era at Hillsborough, but Boyd insists it was just a blip.

“The next two games will be fantastic and they are on Sky. They are pushing for promotion so we will go there to spoil the party.

“I think there is always one team that finishes strongly and nicks in there and has the potential to go on and win the play-offs so hopefully that can be us.”

And Boyd credits any chance of that success with the arrival of his four time promotion winning manager.

“He has brought everyone together and he has made it a proper club again,” Boyd said.

“We are all training together, Aggers and Clem have come in with Bully and really turned things around. There’s a good team unity and the spirit is back and I think that shows in the performances.

“Everyone is fighting for each other and it’s showing in the results. We have just got to keep winning our games and hope others slip up.”

Boyd was a key part of the win over Martin O’Neill’s side on Tuesday as he bagged a goal sandwiched between strikes from Marco Matias in the 3-0 result.

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It was the 33-year-old’s first in almost a year – a fact that Bruce joked about after the game as he revealed he had expected Boyd to deliver a cross.

“He knows I can score from there, I think he’s lying!

“I like shooting from that angle, Lucas did a great set and Marco’s scored some fantastic goals as well so it was a great win for us.

“I didn’t play for six months so I’m just enjoying playing again, it’s nice to get another 90 under my belt and we’ve still got a chance where we need to keep winning and keep getting results.

“I just want to play and obviously when you are not playing a full 90 minutes it is hard to get that match fitness back so that’s three in a row now and I’m feeling back to my best.”