Sheffield Wednesday: Darren Moore offers injury update on Chey Dunkley and George Byers - opens up on why Josh Windass didn't start at Crewe

But first and foremost in his mind was the long-term availability of last season’s top scorer, who came on for the last 20 minutes of the clash.

Windass had played only 115 minutes of football since his return from a long-term hamstring injury and was rested altogether for the long trip to Portsmouth in midweek.

Asked whether it was a tactical or fitness-based decision, Moore told The Star: “It was a little bit of both.

“With Josh, we just want him to keep going the way he’s going and when he does get that start, he gets back and stays back.

“It’s normal that after a long-term injury you get little niggles, it’s just your body adapting to the pressures of the game. That’s just what Josh has felt over the last couple of weeks.

“It’s great to have him back. We wanted to give him no more than 20 or 30 minutes tops today, we’ll get another full week’s training into him this week and we’ll have another look at him.”

Moore hopes Chey Dunkley and Dennis Adeniran may be fit to make the squad for Saturday’s visit of Accrington Stanley. He also explained the omission of George Byers, who he expects to play a part in the Owls’ Christmas programme.

He said: “He played on Thursday and with the quick turnaround, it was the same with Sylla, they played substantial minutes and we just thought it would be too much for them to play today.”