Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United: Scrappy will do for Jones as he strives to stop Owls’ losing run

DAVE Jones is not a man to be fazed by the vagaries of football.

Not after a managerial career spanning almost two decades that has seen the 56-year-old experience the wide range of emotions that come with the job.

He has taken Wolves into the Premier League, unfashionable Stockport County to the last four of the League Cup and Cardiff City to an FA Cup final.

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Just four months ago, Jones also prevailed in the ultimate Steel City grudge match as Wednesday pipped United to promotion from League One in the most thrilling of fashions.

On the flipside, however, the Owls manager has also endured bleak times with a couple of wholly unjust sackings, including at Cardiff where, after taking the club to the Cup final in 2008, he also came within a whisker of bringing Premier League football to the Welsh capital for the first time.

These wildly contrasting experiences must be a factor in why Jones is one of the more level-headed managers in the game, someone as unlikely to get carried away by a string of good results as he is a bad run.

At the moment, such an admirable attitude is proving very useful at Hillsborough after a run of seven games that has yielded just one point – a sequence that means Wednesday will tonight host Leeds United occupying a place in the Championship relegation zone.

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“I wouldn’t say this is a game to kick-start our season,” said Jones ahead of the Owls’ first derby with their rivals from up the M1 in five years. “That was done after we won promotion and played in our first game this term.

“But a big Yorkshire derby at home to Leeds is certainly a game that can turn around our season.

“Having said that, I maintain there isn’t much wrong here. We have been unlucky. We have not had the rub of the green but we have stayed positive because we know we are not far away.

“Derby games are always lively affairs and it is certainly not a bad game to try and get back on track.

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“I am sure the game will be 100mph. It is going to be hectic and cool heads will be needed. We need a win and a clean sheet but no one is going to give us that.

“We have got to earn it. At this stage, I will take any kind of win. No matter how scrappy it is.”

Wednesday’s form between the two international breaks this season was wretched and in stark contrast to the seven points they took from the opening three games of the season.

Defensively, the Owls have struggled and are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league. Only Burnley have conceded more than the 21 goals that have been let in by the South Yorkshire club

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In an attempt to eradicate such generosity to opponents, the past fortnight has been spent working hard on the training ground. Tonight is the players’ first chance to put those lessons into action.

On the recent run that has seen Wednesday tumble down the Championship table, Jones said: “I don’t feel pressure because I am doing a job I love. Managing will never replace playing but it is the next best thing.

“Of course, you don’t enjoy the bad times but you know they are going to come.

“People ask if I feel my job is in jeopardy. It is always in jeopardy. Just look at what happened to me at Cardiff.

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“I took them to their most points in a season, their highest position in the league and made them a stack of money. All I can do is my best and that is the way I will continue. In terms of our season, the international break was useful because it gave us a chance to work on things. Having said that, there is no major problem. A lot of good things are happening here. We just have to keep plugging away and trying to put things right.”

Tonight will see Jones go head-to-head with Neil Warnock. The pair’s most important meeting as managers came in 2003 when Warnock’s Sheffield United were denied a place in the Premier League by Jones’s Wolves triumphing 3-0 in the First Division play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.

The Owls chief said: “I have known Neil for a long time. He knows he is not the most popular man in football but I like him. We have had many touchline battles down the years.

“This will be another one as we are both desperate for our teams to win the points. But when it is all over, we will have a cup of tea together and forget all about the fun and games there has been on the touchline.

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“It isn’t about me and him. It is about what happens on the pitch. From our point of view, I think we just need to get a game where we get our noses in front because that will give us some belief.

“We need to cut out the individual errors as well and if we do that, I believe we have got rid of half our problems at a stroke.

“I am not going to bang on about bad luck because in this game you make your own luck. But what I will say is that everyone here is up for it and we want to do well for this club.

“At the moment, results are not in line with our level of performances. Confidence might have drained from one or two of them but they have worked really hard and the fans have stayed with them.

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“So, I don’t see confidence as a big issue. For me, it is about getting that break. But we have got to earn that because no one gives you anything in football.

“The key to it all is to take on to the pitch what we have done on the training ground every day of the week.”

Jones has no fresh injury concerns ahead of tonight’s derby with Nejc Pecnik having reported back fit and well after being an unused substitute for Slovenia in the current round of World Cup qualifiers.

It means Jones will be without only Reda Johnson (foot) and Chris Lines (groin) as his side go in search of their first win in any competition since knocking Premier League Fulham out of the Capital One Cup on August 28.

That win over Martin Jol’s side remains the only clean sheet the Owls have kept in 13 league and cup outings.