Major update on comeback of Josh Windass as Sheffield Wednesday weigh-up best approach

The 29-year-old has been a huge miss for the Owls who will arrive at New Meadow knowing only a win will keep them in the hunt for automatic promotion – though that still may not be enough given wins will do for the two teams above.

Windass has trained this week after last appearing against Bolton Wanderers on March 17 – the match before Wednesday got suckered in to a run of form that has all but killed their auto dreams.

Both Darren Moore and chairman Dejphon Chansiri have extended rallying cries to supporters and with the likelihood of a play-off campaign on the horizon, Wednesday must make a decision with regard to how much they choose to expose Windass in the next two league matches.

Asked whether it’s possible Windass will feature in Shropshire tomorrow, more likely from the bench, Moore told The Star: “It’s down to how he feels.

“It’s great to see him out on the pitch and the big thing with him was getting multi-directional movements through him and then hoping he didn’t have any reactions. We’ve not seen any reactions as yet.

“He’s trained again and we’ll go on the reactions and how he’s feeling. We’ll look at it but hopefully there’s no reaction and he can be part of it.”

Quizzed on how Wednesday intend to play things given their situation – with the possibility of a top two finish now a remote but mathematical possibility – is there any temptation to go ‘hell for leather’ on getting him back into the side or is the focus now on priming him for the play-offs?

“The biggest thing for me is Josh and how Josh feels,” Moore replied. “First thing first; it’s his health.

“Of course we need him back, of course we want him back. Someone who has scored 15 goals and all those assists makes a big difference and of course we’ve missed him.

“To have that goalscoring prowess back, the creativity and everything he gives us, we want him back.

“But when we get him back we have to make sure that he’s feeling OK to come back in. It’s great to see him back out there rubbing shoulders. When he’s rubbing shoulders and doing stuff on the training pitch, it’s triggered all those motions in his body, his footwork and his mindset.”

While the 29-year-old has had to weigh-up some of his movements in training, word is that the attacker has shown glimpses of the sort of form he left with having racked up 23 goal contributions across the course of the campaign.

Moore said: “He looked good. He’s got his power, his movements were there. There were times I’ve seen him not push himself too much but you want him in that controlled environment where he can do those things in a controlled way.

“It’s about being able to be explosive and going off things that way. We’ve got to get him into that position mentally and physically. He’s nearly there.”

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