THE CONTRAST IN MOOD MUSIC BETWEEN CHAMPIONSHIP STRUGGLERS SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY AND HUDDERSFIELD TOWN IS STARK - AND IS REINFORCED BY WORDS OF DANNY ROHL AND ANDRE BREITENREITER

THE Championship table shows that two places and three points separate Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town amid an ultra-tense relegation dogfight, but it currently feels like so much more.

Much, much more.

Whereas one of those aforesaid Yorkshire clubs seems to possess momentum, belief and a cause, complete with a glass which is very much half-full, the other sadly do not. Not just among players, but also supporters.

A huge 7,000-plus travelling contingent from the blue and white half of Sheffield provided the energy and fuel on an afternoon of psychological importance for the Owls at Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.

It ended with a 3-1 away victory at Ewood Park. Wednesday, with two games to go, were as one with their precious win moving them out of the bottom three for the first time since August 12 with the exuberant scenes at the end painting a pretty picture in the Darwen End.

The previous day, the mood music couldn’t have been more different. Huddersfield players left the field to boos and chants of ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ after an awful implosion in the final quarter of the home game with Swansea City.

Back on Easter Monday, Wednesdayites would have been entitled to feel the same regarding their own team after a similarly wretched loss at Middlesbrough, where the anger of Danny Rohl was plain to see after.

Owls players took things on the chin and did something about it. They are unbeaten in four matches since those events on Teesside.

Rohl, whose fourth-from-bottom side are a point clear of Birmingham City and three above Town - the pair meet at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday on the penultimate weekend of the season - said: “After the Middlesbrough game, I said something about the fans, that they deserve more and more.

"You saw on Sunday when we arrived at the stadium, it was just Sheffield Wednesday fans. The welcome was there and it was a crucial thing.

"We scored the early goal and it was quick when they equalised. It was strong from my team (after), they did not drop down, they fought and then at the end we got the wings from our supporters.

"It was a big step forward for my team to find the right balance between defending and attacking as well. Everybody played their part. I am proud of my team, we keep going."

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Whereas Wednesday players carried out Rohl’s instructions to the letter in a tactically astute showing, the same could not be said of those in Town colours.

Seven days earlier, they had produced a disciplined and strong display at Bristol City, which would have yielded three points but for a ghastly refereeing call.

On Saturday, their decision-making - individually and collectively - left much more be desired and was miles away from their sterling efforts at Ashton Gate.

The damage was done in the final quarter by way of four unanswered goals, but the problems started before. Andre Breitenreiter’s words were damning.

He commented: “Mentality is always important. We have to work as a group and as one team and not in two or three groups like in the first half.

"We didn’t press like the plan or like we did at Bristol, where we were also good in ball possession. We also had short distances and won so many balls and they (Bristol) didn’t shoot once on goal in the first half.

"This (Saturday) was too easy. When we don’t stay together outside or on the pitch and don’t think as a team, then you never have a chance as a team. It was not good enough as a group to stay together on the pitch."

Just as Wednesdayites crammed the away end at Ewood Park, so Hillsborough will be packed to the rafters in Saturday’s game with West Brom, the club’s final home appointment of the campaign.

A rallying call ahead of Town’s match with Swansea was not the precursor to a full stadium last weekend, by contrast.

There were gaps in the home sections and the hope is that disgruntled followers who voted with their feet will relent and give their side a final chance in their hour-and-a-half of grave need in Saturday’s cup final against Birmingham.

The Terriers need all the help they can muster in their biggest game at the stadium in a long time - as they bid to avoid dropping back to League One for the first time since 2011-12.

Breitenreiter added: "I can understand the whole crowd when you have lost so many games in the last 12 years.

"This is a normal thing that you always think negative. But it cannot help the team now when the pressure is high and the quality is not high enough. It’s not good enough to play for the top, so we have to fight against relegation.

"We want to make it better in future because of the change of the owner, but now we have to stay in the league.”

2024-04-23T05:09:42Z dg43tfdfdgfd