Sheffield Wednesday ‘character’ shone through in victory over Nottingham Forest says Steve Bruce

Two stoppage-time goals saw the Owls slip to a 3-1 home defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday following a two-month unbeaten run, but a Marco Matias brace and George Boyd’s fine strike kept their Sky Bet Championship play-off aspirations intact.

Injury forced Bruce to make four changes and he felt his side responded well given the absence of key midfield pair Sam Hutchinson and Barry Bannan.

“Considering the problems we had - losing a couple of midfield players and enforced to make four changes - I’m delighted,” he said.

“I’m delighted for the lads that came in; they’ve worked extremely hard. We didn’t deserve what happened on Saturday and all of the squad have done fantastically well.

“There’s a good spirit amongst them at the minute.”

The result leaves Wednesday four points off the top six and when asked about a promotion push, Bruce added: “Unfortunately games are running out but we’ve still got a bit to play for and who knows?”