Sheffield Wednesday: Josh Windass admits frustration over ‘injury prone’ tag but just knuckles down

The forward had a tough season in 2021/22, only managing to play a handful of games for the Owls due to some injury problems, but he’s now raring to go and got off to a good start as he grabbed an assist in the 3-3 draw with Portsmouth.

Since the 2014/15 season, Windass has played 35+ games in five of the last eight seasons, and the last campaign was the first time since 2013/14 that he played less than 25 – he’s not a player that has been injured much.

So to be hit with an ‘injury prone’ tag must have been tough…

“It is frustrating,” he told The Star. And people who say they don’t see it on Twitter, everybody does. It can get annoying, but at the same time it’s not really my concern what people think - I’m just trying to do the best I can. I know what I am, so I just do the work I can do and keep my attitude spot on.

“It’s tough. Football is genuinely my life. I live and breathe it, I train every day to be the best player that I can be, so when you can’t do it - it’s frustrating.

“You invest in yourself outside of football to be the best player that you can be, you do all these things, so when you have a season full of injuries you think sometimes, ‘What am I doing?’

“But I’m fit now, touch wood, and I’m ready to go.”

And that comes as relief… A lot is expected of him now that he’s fit again and ready to help lead Wednesday’s promotion push – even Darren Moore expects a lot.

“His expectations for me are high, to be honest!” he said with a smile. “But I’m not going to say them too loud because if I fail them then it doesn’t look good!

“But no, I know what he wants from me, so I’m going to go out and deliver that if I can."

One game, one goal contribution. Wednesdayites will be keen to see him keep that ratio up.

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