Sheffield Wednesday boss Garry Monk says Jordan Rhodes' impact in 2-1 Brentford win can be a 'springboard' for his Owls career

The three points puts Wednesday back in the play-off positions and puts them on a run of back-to-back wins for the first time since August.

Monk said that after a first half that could have seen him “substitute seven of them if I was allowed to”, it was the introduction of Rhodes that made a huge difference as his strike partner Steven Fletcher bagged two and took his tally for the season to 10.

Asked whether the performance can act as fuel for the substitute’s Owls career, the manager said: “It can, of course. I said it to him at the end, I’m delighted. It’s been tough for him over the last couple of years.

“Hopefully it’s a springboard for him. We all want him to do well and I’ve had good conversations with Jordan, we spoke about how tough it’s been for him.

“To come on and help affect that game like he did, stretch the game, create space for Fletch and help his team to move up the pitch better and put that intensity in, I thought he was fantastic.”

Though Rhodes was only able to one off-target shot, it was his effort off the ball that most impressed Monk and created avenues for Fletcher to work with.

And though dropping into deep or wide positions is not necessarily a role he is famed for, the Wednesday boss said he had no qualms in asking him to replace Atdhe Nuhiu and do exactly that.

“You saw the other side to him,” Monk said. “Of course he’s a box player, his whole career has been in the box but today he showed everything he can do outside the box as well.

“He epitomised what we needed in that second half and then the team, all of them, went with that.

“That’s how we managed to get ourselves back into the game and get to a winning position.”