Bristol City v Sheffield Wednesday: No 'excuses' as Danny Rohl seeks antidote to Championship travelsickness - again

Early on in the current Championship campaign, the Owls are also suffering from an untimely bout of travel sickness and Danny Rohl acknowledges that it is high time that the situation is nipped in the bud before it becomes a real problem again.

Successive away games at Bristol City and Coventry City present a window of opportunity in that regard for a Wednesday side who have lost their first three league away games of 2024-25.

Given that they memorably won their last three matches on their travels last season, it’s all the more disappointing.

It was a different story in the first half of 23-24 where Wednesday picked up a pitiful one point from their first nine away league fixtures and their maiden success didn’t arrive until December 9.

One of their losses in that time came at Ashton Gate and they will face a Robins side who have not lost on home soil at league level since the start of March.

Rohl, whose side showed character to secure a victory against table-topping West Brom on Saturday - after seeing Albion hit back twice to level at 2-2 - said: "The next two games will be tough. Away, away is always a difficult one. But I have spoken about consistency and now it’s time for some points away and you have to start.

"My demands and expectations from my group are very high. If I am honest, we have five points less, at the moment.

"But the last few performances have been better and for me, that’s the benchmark and we will keep going.

"I have talked a lot of times to my players about consistency being the difference between top teams and average teams.

"In my experience, I have coached a lot of big teams and this is the difference. They can perform again and again. This is what we have to learn and improve and we will improve. Saturday’s game was very helpful for the growth of the group."

After Wednesday’s game in Bristol, the Owls have less than 72 hours before their next away assignment at Coventry.

It’s a hard schedule and will ensure limited preparation time, but Rohl is not interested in excuses, only solutions.

He commented: "We have to take it as we cannot change the schedule.

"It’s a challenge and especially after Bristol, if we come back, it’s five or six in the morning and on Friday, we travel again to Coventry.

"This is the Championship and also part of the job and we have to improve.

"It’s really interesting that we always have this away, away in a row, but this is the schedule and we will have it in the season more and more times. But to speak just about this and looking for excuses makes no sense.

"It’s more important that we look how we can come through and what we can adapt in the training, reduce the load and find the balance in training and keep the core of the starting 11, but find some positions where we can rotate. We will do all the small details."