Burnley loss was turning point for Sheffield Wednesday - Glenn Loovens

Beating Cardiff City last month to clinch a play-off place, for instance, was pretty special. As was the semi-final first leg at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Delving a little further back into the campaign, there were the humblings of Newcastle United and Arsenal in the Capital One Cup, while derby wins are always satisfying and this term the Owls have beaten Huddersfield Town, Leeds United and Rotherham United to claim bragging rights.

Ask Glenn Loovens, however, about which game he sees as pivotal to the club’s season and he picks out a defeat. The 3-1 loss at Burnley in September, to be specific, with the Dutch defender recalling vividly the words of head coach Carlos Carvalhal to the team at the final whistle.

“Burnley was a very big game in our season,” said the 32-year-old to The Yorkshire Post about a fixture that saw Barry Bannan, Fernando Forestieri and Daniel Pudil make their Owls debuts.

“The season was a few weeks old and we had signed a few new players, and we had been trying to fit them in.

“Results had not been great and, okay, we lost at Burnley but that was the day when things started to fall into place. It was a really good game and we played well against a really good team.

“We lost a game but we won a team. That is how the manager described it afterwards and I felt that was a really good description.

“I have always remembered those words, as from there it went from good to better. And better to perfect sometimes. The cherry on the cake is getting through to the final.”

Wednesday slipped to 19th in the table after that loss at Turf Moor, their points tally standing at five from five outings. A goalless draw followed at Bolton Wanderers the following midweek before a run of seven wins in nine games announced Carvalhal’s Owls as a team to take note of in the Championship.

Fast forward seven months and the South Yorkshire club stand on the verge of the Premier League, quite a contrast to the early days of Loovens’s time at Hillsborough when it was the possibility of playing in the third tier and not the top flight occupying minds.

“The club has changed a lot since I arrived,” said the defender, who joined the Owls as a free agent in November, 2013. “My first few months were spent fighting relegation. The second year was mid-table and then that all changed when the new chairman came in along with the new management and a lot of new players.

“I didn’t expect it to gel as well as it did straight away. That shows how hard everyone at the club has worked to make it happen.

“The club is heading in the right direction because of that. Some more work needs to be done but the quality of player brought into the club has been magnificent and the team has grown massively.”

Standing between the Owls and a return to a level they last graced in 2000 are Hull City. Both meetings between the two Yorkshire clubs in the regular season finished level, a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough in October being followed by a goalless stalemate at the KC Stadium perhaps best remembered for Fernando Forestieri being sent off after referee Tim Robinson adjudged the Italian to have dived under a challenge from Michael Dawson to incur a second yellow card.

“Hull are a good team,” said Loovens. “The final will be different to the league games; very different. It is a big occasion, maybe the biggest there is. We are both great teams so let’s see who can win.

“For me, promotion would be a big thing. I have always wanted to play in the Premier League but never managed to do it.

“If I could do that with this team, that would be a big moment for me and a big moment for the club. These players are my buddies, we are a close unit. If we can go and do it all together that would make it feel so special.”

Asked if he felt Wednesday were ready for the Premier League, Loovens replied: “No-one is going to turn it down. We have to be ready if we win at Wembley, it is as simple as that. I have been in the Championship for six years and I have never had an easy game. Not one.

“A game like this is not something to take lightly. It is necessary to put everything in place and make sure we perform well on the day.

“We want to make what has been a great season a perfect season. We have worked really hard for this moment.

“To get to Wembley was a fantastic feeling and a relief. It was a good moment to celebrate afterwards with the fans and in the dressing room. It showed what getting to Wembley meant. But, after an enjoyable couple of days, we got back to normal. And started to concentrate on the work we need to do for the final. Let’s go all the way.”