Sheffield Wednesday star nears 20-goal high but admits there’s only one aim

The 31-year-old has played over 40 games in his debut season with the Owls, leading the line for Darren Moore’s side in their promotion push as they seek a spot in next year’s Championship campaign.

A 3-0 win at Shrewsbury was not enough to keep that dream alive, though, leaving Wednesday with the lottery of the play-offs to secure their escape from League One.

The striker’s 26 goals and assists have been vital, but he’ll be hoping that he’s not done yet.

“It’s obviously a nice feeling to score goals and get the win,” he said. “And I thought the team performance was really good. I think to a man we were the better team, and we got the three points.

“Results didn’t go our way but we’ve just got to dust ourselves down and get ready for the play-offs now.”

In terms of his goals tally, one away from the 20-mark that’s not been hit since Neil Mellor, ‘Smudga’ admits that it’d be nice to hit on a personal level – but insists it’s all about the collective. He also welcomed back the likes of Lee Gregory, Josh Windass and Callum Paterson in recent weeks to bolster their attacking options.

“It doesn’t count for anything unless we get the job done,” he told The Star. “It sounds cliché for us to say but it genuinely doesn’t because we’ve got a job to do. I probably should have 20 already because I shanked one in the first half to put us 2-0 up, but yeah, personally it’d obviously be pleasing.

“You want to take some sort of form into the play-offs, and we’ve managed to win the last three games now, so to take those wins into the play-offs is obviously huge…

“It’s been well-documented that we’ve been unfortunate with injuries this season at key moments. That’s no excuse, it’s just fact. So to have these lads back and in a bit of form is perfect timing.”

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