Talks had with bench-stuck Sheffield Wednesday man waiting behind master of game management

The Owls have employed a rotation system in several positions, with 24 players having earned League One minutes in this campaign.

But rotation doesn’t necessarily lend itself to goalkeeping, of course, leaving Cameron Dawson on a diet of cup football only after an impressive and near ever-present time out on loan at promotion-winning Exeter City last time out.

David Stockdale of course is the man to have played every minute between the sticks in the league this season and sits top of the tree when it comes to clean sheets.

Asked whether the 27-year-old Dawson is subject to any sort of succession plan to replace the veteran Stockdale – a decade Dawson’s senior – Owls boss Darren Moore maintained the focus is entirely on the here and now.

“They’re fighting for that number one spot,” he told The Star. “David has done really well to show that experience and for a goalkeeper to have 10 clean sheets is great – a big part of that is the team in front of him but it’s also down to one or two excellent saves himself.

“His game management and experience has been wonderful and that has been great for Daws to learn from as well, so that’s been great.

“Daws was on loan at Exeter and helped them get promotion. He showed class and pedigree after coming back from his injury. We feel we’ve got two competing against one another.”

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Dawson was out with a long-term knee injury during Moore’s initial months as Wednesday boss but has done enough to impress him while out on loan and since his return to Middlewood Road.

Like others, the goalkeeper has held talks with the Owls manager over his position in the squad.

“We’ve had a good few conversations,” Moore said. “I like Daws as a man, he’s a giant of a man. He’ll look you in the face, he’s very calm and articulate with his views.

“We’ve had some great chats as a man and as a player and I really feel he’s in a different place to when we arrived and he was carrying that injury and needed game time.

“We sent him to Exeter and the loan worked a treat in terms of him and the club. He’s come back determined to play and wants that opportunity.

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“There are goalkeepers in League One he’s looking at and probably feels he has more attributes than them, but he’s not playing.

“Outfield players can be versatile and move people around. Goalkeepers are in a unique position.

“Goalkeepers understand it, but they want to play. And he wants to play. He’s waiting for the opportunity. He doesn’t want to wish anything on David but he’s ready to step in.

“He knows my views. He just has to keep going and stay sharp. Situations can come when you least expect them.”