Josh Windass hits a hat-trick as Sheffield Wednesday thrash Cambridge United

They won one, in the 1977-78 season, but the fact they went 42 games unbeaten across the last 26 games of the ’78 campaign and the first 16 of the next, led Clough to boast it was a feat that deserved two league titles.

Sheffield Wednesday could lay claim to a similarly proud, but ultimately fruitless record (sorry Cloughie) as they entered 2023.

Namely, that none of the 72 teams across the EFL had registered more points that Wednesday without changing divisions.

The Owls’ tally of 97 points came from 47 games, their nearest challenges being Sheffield United, who won 93 from 49 games in the Championship. Both their seasons ended in play-off semi-final defeat, but they picked up where they left off in August, and both are looking good to go up automatically when the real points are accumulated in May.

That Plymouth and Ipswich were third and fourth in that list on 90 and 87 points respectively, tells the story of why Darren Moore’s Owls began the new year outside of League One’s top two, albeit only on goals scored.

The question of whether they could carry on that form and extend their unbeaten run into a 13th game was the main topic heading into their Bank Holiday Monday appointment with lowly Cambridge United.

And the answer was an emphatic yes.

Indeed, 21 minutes in the only issue left to resolve was how many goals Wednesday would reduce Ipswich’s six-goal advantage by in the standings.

By then they were already two goals to the good.

George Byers and Michael Smith had already had headers go wide as an attacking Owls formation exploited the holes in the Cambridge set-up, when Josh Windass notched his first of what would be a well-taken hat-trick.

It was lovely ball over the top by Byers that created it, but the goal owed as much to Windass’s use of his body than anything else, the forward using his weight to manoeuvre Greg Taylor out of his way before calmly slotting the ball past Will Mannion from 16 yards.

Callum Paterson and Michael Smith were proving a real handful in the air, combining on 13 minutes when the former kept a cross alive and the latter volleyed tamely at Mannion.

But they got it right in the 21st minute, Smith flicking a ball into the penalty area and Paterson controlling and shaping to shoot before falling into the clumsy tackle of Liam Bennett.

Smith scored from the penalty spot for the second time in four days at Hillsborough.

Smith, Windass again and Marvin Johnson could have all added a third before the 30-minute mark and Mallik Wilks stung Mannion’s hands with a rasping shot from an acute angle.

Cambridge, beaten 6-0 on their last visit to Hillsborough last season and with just one in seven, could have been forgiven for fearing the worst.

But they enjoyed a spell of pressure towards the end of the half, Lewis Simper thumping the cross bar from the edge of the area.

Any fears of Wednesday losing control through a lack of concentration were allayed seven minutes into the second half when more good work from Wilks created an opening for Liam Palmer, who rattled the ball past Mannion via the aid of a slight deflection.

Wilks and Paterson, in particular, deserved a goal for their endeavour and their unselfish play.

Windass’ second arrived on 70 minutes, Wilks playing a ball between two defenders for Windass who again used his body to feign a pass before rifling the ball across Mannion and into the far corner.

All of Windass’ goals were sweetly struck but his hat-trick clincher was the pick of the bunch, a right-foot drive from the edge of the area that set off outside of the far post but swerved in, giving Mannion, like his Cambridge team-mates all afternoon, no chance.

So Wednesday begin 2023 as they ended 2022, with a victory and a clean sheet.

Up to second as well as Ipswich slipped up at Lincoln.

And all in the first game without the injured Barry Bannan, their playmaker and a man responsible for many of those 97 points last year.

Promising.

Sheffield Wednesday: Dawson; Palmer, McGuiness, James, Johnson (Famewo 76); Vaulks, Byers (Hunt 65), Wilks, Windass (Shipston 83); Paterson (Adeniran 76), Smith (Dele-Bashiru 65). Unused substitutes: Stockdale, Mighton.

Cambridge United: Mannion; Bennett, Okedina, Taylor, Brophy; Digby, Janneh (Tracey 59); S Smith, Knibbs, Simper; Ironside (Lankaster 77). Unused substitutes: Holden, Yearn, Hoddle.

Referee: A Haines (Tyne & Wear).