Irvine delighted with Sheffield Wednesday defensive show

The 2-0 midweek win over Blackpool saw goalkeeper Lee Grant and his defence keep out the opposition after a 14-game run.

While a superb return of five wins from seven games since Irvine succeeded Brian Laws has grabbed the headlines, it has been built on the manager's work on the training ground which has seen a marked improvement on organisation and teamwork.

Irvine said: "The lads deserve enormous credit. The first thing I said to Lee (Grant) was 'there you go, there's your clean sheet'. We've come close, we have conceded a couple of late goals."

The rigid team shape has given more protection to the back four and allowed captain Darren Purse – who suffered a horrendous start to his Owls career after a summer move from Cardiff City – to grow into his centre-back partnership with Mark Beevers. "We got that clean sheet and deserved it and that's something that the whole team can be proud of as well as the back four and Granty," said Beevers.

"Everything that was thrown at us, we dealt with and we'll be looking to take that into our next game.

"I think over the past few games the performances have been there, even against Forest we were pushing for a win.

"But against Blackpool we got the three points and that's exactly what we needed."

Goals from James O'Connor and Darren Potter did the damage, and the Owls now have a week off until the second of three home matches in 12 days, with the visit of Doncaster Rovers next Tuesday.

With Frank Simek having replaced the injured Lewis Buxton at right-back, the Owls now have a more balanced team as the USA defender and left-back Tommy Spurr enjoy attacking runs, and their overlapping makes up for Wednesday's lack of width with Jermaine Johnson also sidelined.