Trains, hotels and Windass snow taxi heroics: Sheffield Wednesday get back down to basics to make Portsmouth trip happen

And as the Owls’ management team fired hurried messages into the WhatsApp group to reassure them the game would be on, hurriedly reorganising the departure time to ensure they arrived in good order, it went to suggest that deep, deep down there isn’t that much difference in the fabric of Darren Moore’s Owls and Steve Bracknall’s Royal Oak after all.

Such was the snowfall in the Steel City this week, new measures have had to be reached for, with Friday morning training cancelled, other sessions dragged indoors and the club’s six-figure inflatable training facility temporarily deflated on safety grounds and rendering it out of bounds. We can only guess how Bracknall would react to that.

Such was the severity of the snow panic, Thursday afternoon and evening saw switches in plans by several players and staff to ensure they were able to report to Middlewood Road ahead of the long trip to Portsmouth on Friday lunchtime. Departure times – and Moore’s pre-match press conference – were kicked forward to guard against inevitable delays on the road south.

Several players braved the travel early doors to stay in local hotels and minimise any risk of lateness. With his car rendered useless, one player arrived via public transport. Darren Moore took a detour to pick up one player himself.

And Josh Windass hopped into his snow-friendly vehicle to do the honours for half the team.

“He’s got a big seven-seater and he’s gone round picking up six or seven lads,” Moore grinned, proud of his sides’ attitude around disruption to preparations for a Pompey side with renewed vigour since the appointment of John Mousinho in January. “He’s done great, he’s gone on a big loop picking everybody up.

“Myself and the doctor were in a big four-by-four and we drove out towards Chesterfield to pick up one of the players, another one of the players has come in on the train.

“I’m really pleased with the effort. Some of the lads that live further north drove down to stay in Sheffield last night in hotels. Wise decision. There were staff members who did the same and stayed in Sheffield. Wise decision.

“The whole group is only together now because the whole group has made small sacrifices to be here today and ensure we can travel south.”

It’s a spirit that has been cultivated throughout Moore’s time at the club. It’s one he has a hard time taking personal credit for, preferring to press focus on the collective and figures not only in the changing room but in the corridors of Hillsborough, in the kitchens and in the cleaning cupboards.

Asked of missing out on yet another League One manager of the month award – remarkably he’s yet to win one despite his side’s unbeaten run heading into a sixth month – he insisted he wasn’t even aware he’d been nominated, such is his preoccupation with the job at hand.

That togetherness saw Moore and his coaching staff wander out onto the pitch on Thursday to assist the Wednesday groundstaff in clearing enough of the pitch to allow training to take place. Sleeves up, they braved the blizzards and pulled back matting laid down ahead of time to reveal a patch of green on a training ground otherwise coated in white.

With the dome out of bounds – the first team use it sparingly anyway – the coaching staff have otherwise had to be creative since the snow fell in terms of the tweaking of their training programme. Sessions have been moved into gyms and there have been more ‘classroom sessions’ based on analysis and tactical preparation for Fratton Park.

Moore, ever-relaxed in nature, appears confident that the disruption is something the Owls can overcome.

“We were able to get out and get some work done,” Moore said. “That was really important to get out yesterday.

“At this stage of the season the players know how we work and everything else and there is a complete trust in the players in terms of their mentality and understanding.”

In Mousinho Portsmouth have a manager Moore knows well. In Portsmouth, Mousinho is at a club Moore knows even better, having spent two successful seasons there as a player and building the sort of cult hero status he has developed at just about every club he’s been come into contact with.

“They’re a good team with good patterns, a good shape and good organisational elements to them,” Moore said.

“It’s another really good challenge especially down there in their own back yard and it’s a game we have to be ready for.

“He [Mousinho] has managed to put his stamp on the team very early and is always looking to improve and get better at that. He’s getting some wonderful results, he has brought consistency and he’s settled the football club down. Now he’s getting into the fabrics of the team and is looking at improving every area.

“At the level they’re at, they’re a big club with a large fan base and they’ll want to continue the season in an upward trajectory. At this stage there is everything still to play for.”

‘Consilio et Animis’ reads the Sheffield Wednesday motto, meaning ‘Wisdom and courage’. The Royal Oak’s reads ‘Simo Amul’ or – if you excuse the pigeon Latin – ‘Together as one’. Wisdom, courage, togetherness, a touch of grassroots spirit; Wednesday have needed a touch of all three in the last few days.

Roll on Fratton Park.

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