Interim boss Matt Hamshaw spoke to the media on Friday afternoon

Sheffield Wednesday have a number of players who are in a ‘race against the clock’ to be fit to face Blackpool.

The Owls, who are managerless and winless in three, are back in League One action on Sunday. Interim boss Matt Hamshaw is set to take charge of the team again after overseeing Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Cambridge United.

Ahead of hosting the Tangerines this weekend, Wednesday will assess defensive trio Liam Cooper, Di’Shon Bernard and Ricardo Santos. With the game taking place on Sunday, that could work in their favour in terms of availability.

On injuries, Hamshaw said: “Everything's kind of up in air a little bit. I think it's going to be a race against the clock. We've got a number coming back. Obviously, I can't go into too much detail at minute for obvious reasons with squad selection, etc. But it's going to be a race against time for a few. Some will make it somewhat. So the lucky thing is we've obviously got an extra 24 hours than probably would have had. So we've trained this morning, and let's just see.

“We miss Coops, we miss Dish, we miss Rico. They're obviously big three players. I thought Ernie Weaver started off a bit shaky in the first 15 minutes and grew into the game (againt Cambridge). Max Lowe, I know he has played at centre-back before, but arguably his best position is at left back and left wing-back going forward. Nobody probably would foresee after 10-11 games that we'd have that pairing (Weaver and Lowe) at centre- back. So that is what we're up against at this moment in time. It's not just us in this league; there's other teams with that. So we trust all our players in the squad and people have to stand up and be counted.”

When pressed on Cooper, who missed out on Tuesday, Hamshaw said he was hopeful he might return, saying: “But again, look, it's probably too early to say. I'd love to come in here and give everybody great news, but again, I think it will be revealed when the team-sheet comes out. But the lads are desperate to get back. It's important that we make sure that our processes are done right because we don't want to play somebody for an hour to then lose them.”

And on Bernard, Hamshaw said he was another who could be in contention or might just miss out, adding: “We'd all love to see Dish back playing, and we all hope that if it isn't this weekend, then it will be soon. And I'm sure it will be. We've got a number of players kind of on that borderline, and it's important we don't risk them for the risk of like here and now.”