In the mire: Heroes and villains in Sheffield Wednesday's 2-1 derby defeat to Barnsley

Eight without a win, they remain bottom of the table and on Saturday fell to their first home defeat against South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley in over a decade.

Add to that a serious injury to their reigning player of the year and life is a long, long way from rosy at S6. Let’s take a look at some heroes and villains from a sorry derby defeat.

Lady luck

When it rains and all that..

Dominic Iorfa is a talisman for that football club, the sort of player that permeates confidence. When he’s playing well and ‘at it’, he picks up the performances of those around him.

There’s no point in dressing it up; that Wednesday won’t see him in a pair of football boots again this season is a monster, monster blow to their chances of survival.

The defender has ruptured his achilles and will have an operation in the coming days, Tony Pulis told us afterwards. Bumping into him outside the ground, crutches and all, he looked utterly devastated.

This is a young player that has only really begun to come into his own in the last 18 months or so. It’s tough to take.

Chey Dunkley

Chey Dunkley might just be the hero need in these testing times.

The former Wigan man, who was not fit enough to play in a training game in midweek but threw himself forward when it became clear Julian Borner was to be unavailable, proved himself to be a leader from the very first minute, cajoling and whipping his teammates with a booming voice that bounced to and from the empty Hillsborough terraces.

The Owls need more of that gumption. However frustrating the last few months have been, it was an impressive start to life at the club.

The Defence

That first Barnsley goal. Despite the empty ground in front of us, from the Hillsborough press box you could feel the frustration of 20,000 angry Wednesdayites.

Though Joe Wildsmith may well take the brunt of that frustration, it was a goal that could have been stamped out once, twice, three times beforehand and is the sort of goal the Owls have shipped far too many times this year. It was sleepy and showed a lack of responsibility in someone just taking it upon themselves to deal with the situation.

The worrying reality is that so much of the encouragement in Pulis’ first few games centred on the fact the defence looked more robust, better drilled. The fact the Owls were struggling to set things up was a problem for down the line.

They’ve now conceded twice in each of their last three matches. When you’re not scoring AND you’re letting them in, that’s a big, big problem.

The Championship

Incredibly, Wednesday remain four points shy of safety, a deficit that will be cut to one if they can summon a win from their trip to Nottingham Forest – who are in 20th – on Tuesday. If they can do that, there might be a sense that they can build something with the rest of the year.

Beyond that, it’s Rotherham seven points away. The fact is, Wednesday are in the mire. Tuesday is a match that could define their season.

MORE FROM OUR WEDNESDAY WRITING TEAM

Major blow: Sheffield Wednesday defender Dominic Iorfa ruled out for the season

Who showed leadership and who was lethargic? Ratings as Sheffield Wednesday limp to Barnsley defeat

Sheffield Wednesday 1 v Barnsley 2 LIVE: What Tony Pulis had to say as Dominic Iorfa ruled out for the season

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