The message Garry Monk has been putting into his Sheffield Wednesday players' heads this week

Up until two weeks ago, the only thing consistent about Wednesday had been poor displays and mistakes.

That appeared to take a turn for the better with a draw at in-form Birmingham and a dramatic vctory over Charlton at Hillsborough.

Then came a dip, in losing heavily – and by virtue of their own errors – to Derby last week, followed up by another slight rise in the performance chart in going down by a single goal to champions Manchester City in the FA Cup.

The ups and downs of the team is something Monk has been attempting to address as he takes them to Brenford on Saturday, with yet more challenging fixtures, against Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and West Brom on the horizon.

And the manager continues to believe that getting into their heads is the way to go.

“You can play bottom of the league or Man City but the mentality has to be right,” Monk said.

“It is naturally higher when you play teams like that (City) and there is no getting away from that. Your senses are naturally heightened for games like that but the consistency side of it can never be of a cliff.

“The key is to be competitive as many times as possible in any game and not be too far off your levels.

“We have had bigger dips off our levels. We have gone through all the football side of it, both tactically and technically but it comes down to mentality. It is my job to push that mentality and get that out of the players. It is a collective thing, not just the players. It is myself as well but it is the most difficult thing you have to do.”

Wednesday will have Julian Borner available for selection against the Bees after he came off at half time against Manchester City but Kieran Lee has not recovered from a groin injury picked up in the same match.