Danny Rohl tells Sheffield Wednesday: Keep on hunting as he aims to continue climbing

A 3-1 win at Blackburn Rovers lifted the Owls out of the Championship’s bottom three. They were out after the first weekend by dint of having lost their first game less badly, but not since.

Rather than bask in it, Rohl was talking about reeling in the teams above in the remaining two matches. Goal difference means four are realistically in range.

“The clear message is it's not about defending our position, it's about attacking the next position, to try and climb the table,” he insisted.

“We are still hunters. Now we hunt the next position.

“We cannot go into the next two games and cross our fingers and hope we can do it. We are still not at our goals and to achieve our goals we need this mindset.”

He played down the significance of finally being out of the bottom three, and of the fact his side have been in a relegation battle whereas teams such as Blackburn – two points ahead – have only been dragged into it in the spring.

“It's a good step to come out of the zone but the belief and the conviction was still there,” he said.

“I remember saying after the Birmingham game we never give up. After the Huddersfield game it was also hard to come back.

“When we first played against Blackburn they were 21 points ahead of us.

“In the last four games we've taken eight points, an average of two points. In the relegation zone, you can see what that means.

“I've had a lot of teams but to be manager of such a dressing-room group makes me really proud.

“There's no advantage (in being acclimatised), it's about working hard. Anything could happen in the last two matchdays.”

Wednesday opened the scoring through Josh Windass but Sammie Szmodics quickly equalised.

Marvin Johnson restored the Owls' lead and an Aynsley Pears own goal made it 3-1.