What Neil Thompson says has been key to Sheffield Wednesday bouncing back

Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Since the interim boss took charge at the end of December the Owls have avoided being sucked into a perilous series of results by quickly bouncing back from defeats.

Indeed, the only time Wednesday have lost two on the spin while Thompson has been in charge came when a very poor performance at Coventry followed defeat in the FA Cup away to Everton.

Only two league games have been lost in that time and while it’s fair to say that when the Owls are bad, they’re very bad – Thompson rather more politely described the reversals as “sobering” – it’s quite impressive how they appear to have captured the ability to quickly forget about them and move on to the next challenge.

The rejuvinated Jordan Rhodes was against on target for Sheffield Wednesday in their win over Wycombe on Tuesday night. Pic Steve Ellis

However, even though the hectic schedule doesn’t seem to offer the opportunity to dwell too much on poor performances, the manager insists there has been a certain amount of self-reflection when the team has been on the wrong end of a result.

Next Sheffield Wednesday Manager: This is why the bookies have suspended betting

The latest bounce-back came on Tuesday night when, fresh from a horrible second half capitulation against Millwall at the weekend, Wednesday climbed out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 victory over fellow survival hopefuls Wycombe.

Last month, they followed up that dreadful display against Coventry to beat Preston and Bournemouth and when you are down at the bottom end of the table, it’s an impressive quality to have in being able to come back fighting.

"The defeats have been quite sobering at times, but it’s important that we analyse them, look ourselves in the mirror and see where we need to improve and do better,” said Thompson following Tuesday night’s win. “That’s what we spoke about, and they’ve delivered.”

Now there is a new challenge being set as a sub-plot to their bid to steer themselves away from the drop.

For quite a while, Wednesday’s home form had been embarrassing. Before Thompson took temporary charge, they’d won twice at home all season. Last year, mostly under Garry Monk, they won just seven times at Hillsborough.

What Sheffield Wednesday caretaker boss Neil Thompson said about Andre Green's absence against Wycombe Wanderers

Now they’re unbeaten at home since losing to Barnsley on December 12 and so away days become the next hurdle to jump.

“It’s still tight, and we just know that we’ve got to keep winning football matches," added Thompson.

“We’ve won five of the last seven, six out of the last nine and we’ve done alright. We’ve got to keep doing that.

“We need to win games, and we know we’ve not won as many away from home. We’re trying to do the right things at the right times, and at home we’ve turned things around. We need to treat every game on its merits.”