What was said in the post-match huddle after Sheffield Wednesday's win at Cardiff City

The Owls deservedly won out 2-0 in what had been billed as a very difficult opening fixture with a disciplined performance that typified the way the manager wants them to play; committed, drilled, competent.

And the message sent to those in and out of the huddle on a crisp Wales afternoon was simple; Sheffield Wednesday are united, they are fighting and they are up to the task.

“It was a message about the performance and about being together,” Monk said, reiterating the need for the club’s vast fanbase to get behind the side even whilst they are not allowed back in stadiums.

“It was important for ourselves and to everyone else, to our fans, to say that we are together.

“That at the end was a signal to ourselves and a signal to our fans. We are together, we’re going to fight for the club, we’re going to fight for that shirt.

“Today we had everyone, not just the guys on the pitch, we had the guys on the side, the guys back home, we’re fighting for that shirt.

“It’s three points, we need as many of them as we can, but it’s one game in 46, we’ve a long way to go and we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.

"It’s going to be hard, we’re going to have setbacks along the way, but there’s going to be unity, that’s for sure.”

Josh Windass and Jordan Rhodes got the goals for Wednesday and there was another clean sheet – their third in three run-outs this season – for an excellent defensive line led by reigning Hillsborough player of the year Dominic Iorfa.

Asked after the match what had been said in the huddle, Iorfa said: “He was saying about the feeling we had today, the way we worked for each other, the feeling after the game, that’s the feeling it’s got to be every week.

“We’ve got off to a great start and now we need to kick on from here but you could see everyone left it all out on the pitch, everyone screaming after the game, but that’s what it needs to be.

“The ones that started need to 100 per cent leave it all out there and the subs that are coming on need to make an impact and they did that today. It was a great team effort from everyone.”

On their concentration and commitment in defence, Monk said: “We talked about that, from last season, where in certain moments we lost focus in certain positions in games.

“We’ve done a lot of work on that in pre-season, I think you saw today, 2-0 is a great position to be in but in any game it’s delicate, if they get one back it can give them something and we’ve seen that many times. The focus was brilliant.

“We played to the very last minute and you can see from that clean sheet how much it meant to them, to a man we worked together.”

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