Sheffield Wednesday speedster reveals survival confidence and why he's had no meeting over contract

Dominic Iorfa made his 156th appearance for the Owls in Friday evening's defeat to Leeds United and has proven himself to be an important figure in the way Danny Röhl wants his side to play either side of an injury that kept him out for three months of the season.

Wednesday sit 22nd in the league and have been busily clawing their way back from the brink in recent weeks, now just a point shy of the safety spots and five points short of 15th place. With nine matches to go and a difficult trip to Ipswich Town set to take them into a fortnight international break, it's a frankly remarkable comeback effort from a side that to onlookers looked down and out after their worst-ever start to a league season.

Iorfa, who has made four appearances including one start since his long injury lay-off, spoke with a relaxed confidence about the task in hand, describing a challenge to embrace rather than one to fear.

He said: "We're looking forward to it. There's a big task at hand but confidence is high and we're looking forward to the run-in. It's very tight, there are loads of teams in it but I think it's exciting, so many teams that can get dragged into that relegation zone.

"Staying up would be a great achievement. We've done a lot of hard work over the last few months to close the gap and get ourselves to where we are now. Now we have nine games and we've got that battling chance, if we can do what we can do and do that over the next nine games there is no reason we can't stay up. It shows how far we've come, what the manager has done and us as a group as well.

"We have a great deal of confidence that we will do it and it would be a great achievement."

Iorfa is one of a number of senior players approaching the end of his current deal at Wednesday. Röhl spoke last month to describe a pact of sorts between those with dwindling contracts to put personal uncertainty to one side and push on to secure Championship status for the club. Former England youth international Iorfa has yet to have any formal indication of whether he fits into the club's plans beyond the run-in - though there is good reason.

"I wouldn't say we've had any sit-downs as such," he said. "There's been a lot going on in the last months, the window has been open, I've been injured as well, so we haven't had that sit-down discussion as such. His main focus for me is helping me to get back and my focus has been working hard behind the scenes to get back in and play as well as we can. We'll see where it goes as the season goes on. Who knows, as the season winds down, there might be more discussions. We'll see."

Iorfa arrived in South Yorkshire from Wolves as a 23-year-old and has since built a family in the area. Asked whether he hopes for a new deal to continue his time at Wednesday, he said: "The club means a lot to me. I came at a time when I was at Wolves and wanted to move on to find somewhere I could call home. I found that here, I have played in six seasons, five years and in football that's a long time. I've had highs and low moments and I've enjoyed my time here, my kids are growing up in this area as well. I'm happy here.

"I'm settled here and I'm happy here but to be honest it's not something that's big in the back of my mind. I've come back from injury so my focus has been on getting back in, helping the team stay up. That's my focus. If that's the case (he's offered a new contract) I'll be happy, but right now I couldn't really tell you."