Henrik Pedersen believes Sheffield Wednesday can beat Leicester City despite loss at Stoke City
Sheffield Wednesday’s winless league run was extended to 34 matches by Stoke City - but Henrik Pedersen believes his side can topple Leicester City.
Goals from former Sheffield United loanee Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Lamine Cisse ensured the Potters secured a 2-0 win and dodged a banana skin against the Championship’s bottom side.
Wednesday’s winless run is achingly lengthy, but Pedersen has retained belief it can brought to an end.
The Dane believes it could happen on Easter Monday (April 6), when Leicester City visit Hillsborough.
Henrik Pedersen’s belief
He said: “I have a big belief in my players and I have a big belief that we can win a game again and I have a big belief that we can do it on Monday.
“I see how hard the team work every day in training. I see the culture and how they are standing up for themselves.
“I have a big belief that we can surprise in one or two games and do something. We all want to invest to come onto plus points and to get the next win.”
Pedersen also reserved praise for Wednesday’s supporters, who are still turning up in their numbers despite the fact relegation to League One was confirmed long ago.
He said: “They are with us in every game. Before we go on the pitch in every game, we want to make them proud.
“We cannot expect to win all six of the remaining games but we will give everything that we can on the pitch. We will show who we are and we must stand up for each other. This is what the boys and the coaching staff are trying to do every day.”
Mark Robins’ view
Stoke boss Mark Robins, meanwhile, said: “I was happy enough with the performance. I was pleased with the three points and the clean sheet. We scored two goals of good quality.
“When you lose a game like we did last time out, you need to go and win and turn it around and score some goals and play properly and well. Mostly we did okay. We gave too many balls away and gave them too many opportunities later on in the game and that’s a consequence of what we have got available at the moment and where everybody is at with their recovery from injury or coming back from international games.
“There wasn’t enough speed and movement in there but the three points are most welcome. That’s three points more than we had in the whole of last season and there are six games left. We talk about incremental improvement and it’s there for everybody to see.
“While we’re not singing from the rooftops about it, it’s something you can tangibly get hold of and we want to try and pick up as many points as we can from the last 18 and see where that takes us.”