My Favourite Player: How Adam Reach provided memorable moments in one of Wednesday's darkest modern periods

“As a 19-year-old Sheffield Wednesday fan, I have not been blessed with the likes of David Hirst and Chris Waddle, players who lit up Hillsborough as a Premier League stage.

Wednesday were relegated from the top flight four months before I was born and since then we have never quite managed to return, despite coming close on a couple of occasions.

Even though the best football I have seen at Hillsborough came during Carlos Carvahal’s first two years in charge, I do not look back on any one player with particular fondness over another. What I mean by this is, while Gary Hooper was banging in goals and the Loovens and Lees partnership in defence looked impenetrable, I did not go to games expecting one player to stand out above the rest.

That is why, when thinking of my ‘favourite’ player, I look back to Adam Reach from the start of the 2018/19 season until around the end of November under Jos Luhukay. Through this torrid time, one man stood up and saved us from a relegation battle. That man was Adam Reach; shouldering Sheffield Wednesday as he scored screamer after screamer.

I did some maths and without Reach’s direct goal contributions, goals and assists, by Christmas 2018 we would have been 20th and one point off the relegation zone with the most goals conceded in the league.

While it was his wand of a left foot that won him plaudits at the time, it was his willingness to try something creative when on the ball that I found so refreshing. This, coupled with his work rate, instilled positivity in a crumbling team. He exuded confidence with his driving runs and looked unplayable at times. Every time I travelled to watch Wednesday, I knew he would do something special.”