Sheffield Wednesday v Walsall: Irvine urges Owls fans to throw support behind team

The Owls host Walsall at Hillsborough knowing that victory could lift the club up to third in the League One table, firmly on course for promotion back to the Championship.

However, with supporters angry over the club's slide towards possible administration, Irvine fears the atmosphere could help the Saddlers who are desperately trying to climb off the bottom of the table.

"I fully understand the fans' frustrations, it's been very difficult for them – not just now, but for a number of years," said Irvine, who has been with the club only 10 months.

"But it has reached a climax now with the uncertainty about the future of the club and, probably like me and the players, the fans can't do anything about it.

"I just hope they can, during the course of the 90 minutes, put aside that frustration and get behind us the best they can," he added. "If they do that, they will help us. There is no question about that."

The Owls fought back from a goal behind against Milton Keynes Dons last weekend to record a fourth consecutive victory and Irvine believes the club's away supporters played a major role in that success. Supporters at Hillsborough, however, are traditionally far less patient.

Irvine said: "It's at times like this that you should roll your sleeves up and try to remain as positive as you possibly can.

"I hope the fans will do that. Our travelling support was magnificent at the weekend. They kept on singing and we went on to get four goals.

"That was our reward and their reward – we all stuck at it and nobody lost faith.

"I would like to think that, if we were to suffer a setback against Walsall, everybody would remain positive and hopefully we would be able to bounce back."

Chairman Howard Wilkinson is full of praise for the way Irvine and the club's players have handled the mounting pressure at the club and kept the club in the promotion race.

The Owls are facing two winding up petitions from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs for 1.7m in unpaid tax and are due back in the High Court on December 1.

If new investment is not found in the next nine days, the club's major creditors the Co-Operative Bank, who are owed 23m, are likely to seek administation which will result in the immediate deduction of 10 points by the Football League. That penalty would rise if the club failed to exit administration via a CVA and relegation rather than promotion would be on the agenda.

Wilkinson said: "At the moment, we are four points from automatic promotion. We just need to get through this period and, if we do get through this period, we are in a terrific position to kick on.

"There has been more than one occasion when the team has been significantly affected because of our inability to bring in a loan player or loan players due to the transfer embargo.

"People are aware of these things and, not least, the fact that a 10-point deduction would have been a disaster. But hopefully now we seem to have people focused and seem to be moving towards a finishing point.

"Obviously, it is not an ideal situation," Wilkinson added. "And what has amazed me is how the manager has coped because this is not just the last week, this has been going on for some time, and he has coped magnificently. There's no doubt that from around a month into the season, when this started to rumble on, it was bound to have an effect."

Irvine rated the 4-1 victory at MK Dons among one of the best performances of the season but also insists that the team was playing better before the financial uncertainty emerged.

"We are getting back close to our best," said Irvine. "We were playing some terrific football at the end of August and a lot of fans said that was some of the best football they had seen from a Sheffield Wednesday side for some time.

"Full marks to the players, they have had a lot to deal with and last week the court case was playing on everyone's mind. Added to that, we had to make three changes to a team that had just won three games in a row."

The Owls will be boosted tonight by the return of midfielders Giles Coke and James O'Connor and, possibly, goalkeeper Nicky Weaver.

Coke was serving a one-game ban at MK Dons, Weaver was ruled out by a knee injury, and O'Connor was granted leave because his wife was ill following the birth of the couple's second child.

Winger Jermaine Johnson is also pushing for a start after returning to the bench at the weekend following a hamstring injury but defender Jon Otsemobor remains sidelined with a calf injury.

Irvine says Weaver's swollen knee has improved but will make a late decision on his fitness before tonight's game.

His replacement, reserve team goalkeeper Aaron Jameson, took full advantage of a rare first-team opportunity and impressed on his Football League debut.