Barry Bannan salutes 'big hunger' characteristic Sheffield Wednesday have developed this season
Sheffield Wednesday had to dig deep to enjoy a maximum haul of points during what was a demanding three-game week.
Midfielder Barry Bannan believes Sheffield Wednesday assembled a team of the right characters during the summer transfer window following their excellent start to the season.
The Owls climbed to the top of League One on Saturday after recording a third successive victory, beating Peterborough United 2-1 at the Weston Homes Stadium. Yan Valery netted the winner after a Ben Woods header had earlier cancelled out a Josh Feeney own goal that had given Wednesday a half-time lead.
Just as they had done against Wycombe Wanderers a few days earlier, the Owls were forced to roll up their sleeves and fight their way to three points. Wednesday have won each of their first three away games this season by the odd goal in three.
Although Owls chief Henrik Pedersen has accepted that his side can improve and raise their performance levels, the manner of the victories over Wycombe and Peterborough highlighted that this new-look team is prepared to roll up its sleeves when a challenge presents itself.
In the opinion of Bannan, who was one of 18 new recruits at Hillsborough over the summer, the fighting spirit he and his teammates showed against the two aforementioned opponents stems from Pedersen’s mission to ensure the right characters are in the dressing room.
“Three games in a week is hard, especially when you get to the last one and there are a lot of tired bodies,” Bannan told the club’s website. “But you can see the togetherness and the culture we've got going at the minute is massive. I think that got us through on Saturday.
“The manager is really big on it, before being a good player, he's interested in the human and being the right human for the changing room. You can be the best player, but if you drag the changing room down with the way you act and go about day-to-day things, then you're no good for the club.
“You can see everybody is pushing in the same direction. We're all on board and willing to fight to get as many points as we can.
“There were players coming on from the bench on Saturday at tough times in the game, throwing their bodies on the line to get the points for the club. There’s a big hunger here and it's amazing. You can see everybody is hungry to win games.”