Teacups intact - Sheffield Wednesday’s Darren Moore reveals what he said at half time to ignite Owls turnaround

The Owls were 2-1 down at the break after some sloppy play in the first half at Hillsborough, but fought back in fantastic style in the second half to secure a 5-2 win and leapfrog Plymouth Argyle to go top of the League One table.

Many will have expected Moore to have given a bit of hairdryer treatment after the first half, but he says that wasn’t the case.

“Everybody might have thought I was throwing teacups in there at half time,” he revealed. “But believe it or not I just spoke in the same tone that I’m talking to you no – I just said ‘Come on, we’re miles better than that’. We just needed to clean up on our work, on our details and angles. We needed more concentration, and to be more forceful in the second half. That’s exactly what we got.

“I didn’t think the first half was bad, I just thought in the final third things just petered out and we didn’t get the right contacts on it. Second half we were more forceful and had more intent… The sustained pressure and atmosphere from the supporters was excellent, and in the end the nut that they had, we cracked it and got the three points.”

It was hard-fought, but Moore says their issues were more self-inflicted than anything the Dons did.

“There were a couple of breakaways from them in the first half,” he went on to say. “But they were all self-inflicted. When you look at their efforts they were given away by us, or we were being too tentative with the ball. So really it was about us giving them the opportunities, so that’s why at half time – rather than rant and rave – it was about being calm and thinking about the work.

“I said, ‘You’re good players, that’s why you’re here playing for Sheffield Wednesday’, and they showed that in the second half.”

The Owls’ unbeaten run of 19 games in League One equals a club record streak that will be broken if they can avoid defeat against Charlton Athletic next weekend.

MORE: Player ratings as Wednesday lay on second half steamroll of MK Dons