South Yorkshire trio are required to buck recent trend at the bottom

IT is an indication of how much South Yorkshire’s Championship representatives have struggled this term that last weekend was a rare instance of supporters from all three clubs being able to smile in unison over how their side had fared. Bottom club Barnsley ended a month-long wait for their first win under Danny Wilson as Blackpool were beaten 2-0 at Oakwell.

Doncaster Rovers, meanwhile, claimed their first maximum points since November by seeing off Wigan Athletic in convincing fashion as Sheffield Wednesday returned from promotion-chasing Burnley with a precious point.

It was only the third matchday of the campaign where all three of the White Rose sides locked in a fight for survival had avoided defeat, a statistic that explains why both Rovers and the Reds sit in the bottom three this morning and the Owls are just two points clear of trouble.

For Wednesday, a point at Turf Moor against the only remaining Football League club boasting an unbeaten home record represented a continuation of the upturn in form that Stuart Gray has inspired since taking charge on a caretaker basis.

Nine games have yielded 12 points, fuelling hopes in S6 that the Owls can plot a path away from trouble in the coming weeks.

Over at Oakwell and the Keepmoat, meanwhile, Saturday’s victories suggest those who have written off the two Yorkshire clubs and second bottom Yeovil Town – the bookmakers’ three favourites for relegation before a ball had been kicked back last summer – may yet prove a tad premature.

Certainly, Doncaster manager Paul Dickov believes his side set a standard in the victory over Wigan which, if replicated regularly, can take the club to safety.

“We are a good team and the result against Wigan showed what we are capable of when we get our players back fit,” said the Scot who in the past couple of weeks has welcomed back Paul Keegan, James Husband, James Coppinger and Bongani Khumalo after lengthy absences.

“I said all along that if we could get through this period of injuries and still be in touch, we would be confident. I know I have been making myself look a bit stupid by saying our performances have been good when we kept getting beat. But the Wigan win can be a benchmark for the rest of the season. All of a sudden, a result like that can kick you on. It gives us a lot of belief going into these next 20 games.”

Doncaster are the only one of the South Yorkshire trio who were not involved in last season’s incredible scrap for survival in the Championship. Rovers did, though, hold their nerve in testing circumstances to win the League One title in the most dramatic of fashions.

As for Wednesday and Barnsley, they were just two of several teams who showed near title-winning form during the run-in as the fight to stay up went to the final day.

When the music had stopped, both White Rose clubs and Huddersfield Town were able to celebrate thanks to Peterborough United occupying the final relegation place despite accumulating 54 points.

In doing so, Posh claimed the unwanted record of being relegated from the second tier with the highest points tally and while it is maybe asking a lot for the relegation fight to be as dramatic this time around, those who do eventually stay up will be tested to the full.

Wednesday caretaker manager Gray is well aware of that, which is why even after claiming a creditable point at Burnley he is preaching the need to get back to winning ways.

“We are seven games unbeaten (in league and cup),” he said, “and it was nice to get a point at Burnley.

“But we are reaching the stage where we need to start picking up three points as well.”

A brief glance at the recent history of the Championship suggests there is a fair chance that three of the current bottom five will go down.

In three consecutive seasons from 2008-09, that proved to be the case with Wednesday and Steel City rivals United being among those relegated after being in the bottom five with 20 games remaining.

Doncaster, too, suffered that sinking feeling in 2011-12 after being 23rd at this stage of the season.

In the last two seasons, two of the bottom five after 26 games have gone down. The unfortunate duo to buck the trend were Wolverhampton Wanderers last term (18th at this stage) and Portsmouth (17th) a year earlier.

Both should serve as a warning to Wednesday, 19th after the draw at Burnley, that there is still plenty to do.

Hopefully, all our sides can stay up. It will not, though, be easy with the blots on last weekend’s landscape from a Yorkshire perspective being Yeovil’s victory at Birmingham City and fourth-bottom Millwall getting the better of Ipswich Town at The Den. Clearly, they, too, are up for the fight.

“We can’t worry or look too much about how other teams are doing,” added Doncaster manager Dickov. “We have to get our own house in order. The signs (against Wigan) were encouraging.

“But we have had great results against QPR, Leicester and Forest, and not really backed them up. Now, we have to keep it going.”

The only two previous occasions that Barnsley, Doncaster and Wednesday have avoided defeat came in mid-August and on the first Tuesday in December.

That second instance – when Wednesday and Barnsley won, while Rovers drew – came in the wake of both Dave Jones and David Flitcroft being sacked, the latter paving the way for the eventual return to Oakwell of Wilson.

“It isn’t easy when you go into a club and have to hit the ground running,” said the Reds chief.

“You have to make changes over a very short period of time.

“As I said when I first came in, it is like open-heart surgery. We have to hit it straight away. We don’t have time to sit back and hope and pray we get results. We have to force those results.”