Sheffield Wednesday boast best record in the country – but flipside could be the factor that decides playoff hopes

That’s not only in League One, but in the country. A stat doing the rounds on social media this week highlights the fact that of all the teams in the top four divisions of English football this season, no side has collected more points at their home ground than Wednesday’s 44.

It means of course that had only home games counted towards the league table, the Owls would be top of the third tier, two points clear of fellow high-flyers Rotherham and Plymouth.

Wednesday boss Darren Moore has spoken a great deal about the need to build momentum at home and in such a short period of time, it’s a record to be hugely proud of.

The club’s record last season in the Championship was reasonable; the 13th best in the division. But alongside a points deduction it was their rock bottom-ranked away form that cost them relegation; their tally of 15 points from 23 matches the worst in the league by some way.

Fast forward 11 months or so and Wednesday are in a very different place, chasing promotion from League One. And while their away form has improved greatly – they sit ninth in the away league table with 25 points in 19 matches – it is perhaps away days that will have one or two supporters looking just a little nervously down the fixture list.

After a glut of Hillsborough dates, away matches now account for four of the seven games remaining this season and includes difficult trips to Bolton next Saturday, to MK Dons a week later and to Wycombe on April 23.

Their final away day, at Fleetwood in what will be their penultimate match of the season, may well see the hosts battling for their lives at the bottom.

And it is perhaps on those days that Wednesday’s fate will be sealed one way or another as few of the teams in the top third seem ready to relent a furious pace that looks likely to mean whoever finishes sixth will have do so in record breaking fashion.

There’s no reason to believe the home form won’t take care of itself.