Norwich City v Sheffield Wednesday: We need to turn draws into wins, says Bannan

The Owls have slipped down the table despite a seven-game unbeaten run, sitting 12th ahead of their tea-time trip to Norwich City.

This fixture would be a banker when looking to place a bet on a draw.

While the Owls have drawn their last four outings, the Canaries have not won at home for three months – since beating Birmingham City on September 9 – drawing five and losing twice.

Bannan insists wins will come if the Owls continue to graft.

“We want to win games and we have drawn too many,” said Bannan.

“We are trying to keep going as we know it will soon turn like it has done in the seasons before where we have kept working hard and come out the other side.

“Hopefully this is no different. We have to keep working hard and try to emulate the second half of last week’s game and take it into games in the future.

“We need to start getting more wins whether it is home or away.

“We need to start winning games to get up the league. Draws can be alright, but they are not enough for the position we are in.

“We need to turn these draws into victories.”

Wednesday are looking to reach the play-offs for a third successive season, and Bannan claims that is still the target.

“We want to be in the play-offs, definitely,” he said. “The gap is eight points and that’s not a lot in football.

“It can change in a week, but we need to stop talking now and we need to start putting in the performances on the pitch and getting results.

“We need to start doing things now.

“We have been on five-, six-game winning runs before so it is probably going to take something like that to get us up there, but I can’t see why not.

“We know we have the quality in the squad so it is just about turning these draws into wins,” he added.

Wednesday have picked up good results on their last three away trips, beating Aston Villa before back-to-back draws at seventh-placed Ipswich Town and last season’s play-off finalists Reading.

But conceding a stoppage-time equaliser to Hull City last weekend has dampened the spirits at Hillsborough.

“We were close against Hull,” said Bannan. “That could have been three points and if we had seen that out then everybody would be positive and there are no questions about draws and missing out on play-offs.

“We need that one win whether it is horrible or a great performance like we produced at home to Leeds earlier on in the season. We just need three points and I’m sure we will start kicking on.”

Striker Gary Hooper, returning to Carrow Road today having left Norwich last summer after three years in Norfolk, will look to add to his 11 goals this season.

Bannan admits he and his team-mates need to start chipping in with goals to take the burden off the strikers.

“We need to score more goals from all over the pitch, myself included,” he said.

“It is something I have been looking at, but it has not been happening so I can take the blame on that as well.

“We need to try and help Gary. He has been brilliant and I think he has scored 10 league goals, which is a great return.

“If we can find goals from other parts of the pitch, I think that’s when we will start pushing up the league.”