Sheffield Wednesday caretaker boss Neil Thompson hopes Stoke talk can offer boost ahead of 'massive' Birmingham City clash

The Owls remain locked in the Championship bottom three but a fine run of form under caretaker boss Neil Thompson, including five consecutive home wins, has given them every chance of survival.

Tuesday’s defeat at Stoke was a blow, Thompson admitted, but there is no time to lick wounds with the six-pointer against Birmingham set to take place tomorrow.

Thompson’s side have been able to bounce back from defeats throughout his time in charge. The Blues have won only one of their last 14 matches.

Asked about how the side go about getting straight back to winning ways, Thompson said: “We need to do that without a shadow of a doubt. There are 17 games left, we have to bounce back and bounce back quickly.

“It’s a massive game against Birmingham on Saturday, as are the weeks coming up. It’s important to put on a positive performance on Saturday and go for those three points.

On an honest conversation in the changing room post-match, Thompson told The Star: “The lads were disappointed. We know second half we didn’t performance as well as we could have.

“We said that when you’re at this stage of the season, the position that we’re in, the games aren’t going to be pretty and you’ve got to accept that. That goes with the territory, you’ve got to dig in, track your runners, tackle and run and then let your quality do the talking when you’ve got the ball.

“I thought we did that to a certain extent first but the second half we didn’t do that.”

After Birmingham come back-to-back away matches with high-flying Brentford and Luton before another clash with a relegation rival in Rotherham.

Every game, Thompson said, is vital no matter the opposition.

“Any defeat where in the second half we weren’t at the races for whatever reason, we’ve got to address that,” he said. “That was the discussion after the game, but we’ve got to re-group, we’ll get them up again ready for Birmingham. The Stoke game has gone now.”

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