Sheffield Wednesday 2 Middlesbrough 0: Zayatte dreaming of late push for play-offs

The 29-year-old has seen his Owls career plagued by injuries since joining in 2013, and he was forced to watch from the sidelines in the recent African Cup of Nations with Guinea due to a hamstring strain.

But the former Lens defender has enjoyed a four-game run with Tom Lees at the heart of Wednesday’s defence, due to an ankle injury which has sidelined captain Glenn Loovens for eight weeks.

Saturday’s win over high-flying Middlesbrough – Wednesday’s 17th clean sheet of the season – was only Zayatte’s sixth Championship game of the campaign.

While goals from strike duo 
Atdhe Nuhiu and Will Keane – plus an ugly on-pitch bust-up between Wednesday’s Jose Semedo and Boro’s Grant Leadbitter – took the after-match headlines, it was the home defence which excelled.

Victory for Boro would have returned them to top of the Championship, but Aitor Karanka’s side are in a mini-slump, having won just once in four since bowing out of the FA Cup at Arsenal.

Strikers Patrick Bamford and Kike rarely looked like troubling Owls goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, and when the latter did get a chance to grab a late lifeline for Boro, Liam Palmer produced a stunning recovery tackle as an open goal beckoned.

The Owls are in mid-table, but Zayatte believes if Wednesday can replicate Saturday’s performance over the remaining 12 games they could gatecrash the race for the Premier League and reach the play-offs.

“We played well and kept a clean sheet, everyone did their job,” said Zayatte.

“We need to play like this, if we continue playing like this we can finish in the top six before the end of the season.

“Everyone knew his job, the strikers scored and we kept a clean sheet at the back. We need to have that mentality.

“I have been out a long time because of injury, but now I feel better, playing with Tom and we now know each other.

“We try to have a good connection in the game. We played well last week and this time we enjoy a massive win. Now I hope to keep away from injuries and play more games.

“I am not 100 per cent, about 90 per cent, and I am trying to do my best for the team. If the team win, that’s the best for everyone.

“Tom is a good player and does his best in every game. For me, he is one of the best players in this league.”

Zayatte’s contract at Hillsborough expires in the summer, but he hopes he can impress in the next two months to earn a new deal.

“My contract finishes at the end of the season, but I am not thinking of that, I just want to help my team,” he said.

“If I do my best in every game, the club can give me a new contract.

“I want to stay. That’s my objective, to stay in Sheffield, because I have missed a lot of time to show everybody who I am because of injury.

“Now I am starting to feel better and I want to stay here to help the team.”

There was little to choose between the two teams at Hillsborough in the opening 45 minutes.

Keane headed over and Adam Foresaw chipped wide for the visitors.

Boro were incensed that an early penalty appeal, after claims Claude Dielna caught Albert Adomah with a trailing leg, was waved away.

“The same thing happened last season here,” claimed Karanka. “Last season, we scored a ‘goal’ at that end and the linesman saw something.

“This time, nobody saw anything when it was us, but they got a penalty in the second half.

“They went in front from their penalty and it was disappointing that we didn’t work their goalkeeper after that.”

With the two meanest defences in the Championship on display, it was always going to take a mistake to open the scoring.

After Keane and Nuhiu combined, Ken Omeruo handled inside the area seven minutes into the second half.

Nuhiu scored from the penalty spot – his fourth goal in his last three games against the Riverside club – despite goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos guessing correctly and diving the right way.

Two minutes later, the strike duo combined again. Lewis McGugan’s free-kick was headed onto a post by Nuhiu and Keane reacted quickest to head in the rebound.

For an Owls side who had only scored 23 Championship goals in six months of football, Saturday’s brace meant they had scored seven goals in a week – and those games were against the league’s top two in Derby County and the Boro.

Keane should have made the scoreline more emphatic – this was the Owls’ first home win since Boxing Day – but was thwarted by Konstantopoulos in a one-on-one.

Two pieces of superb defending reminded us why these two sides are so hard to score against.

James Husband blocked Nuhiu’s goal-bound shot, before Palmer popped up to deny Kike a certain goal.

Boro chief Karanka added: “Last Tuesday, I said that against Bolton could be our worst performance (of the season) and Saturday has been worse so it’s difficult, but we have to learn from the game (at Hillsborough).

“We have two months in front of us and we’re in a very good position in the table so we have to fix our mistakes.”