The Sheffield-born centre-forward says his team are wiser for missing promotion from League One last season, which is why he is refusing to think beyond Sunday's game at Forest Green Rovers.

With 55 points separating Darren Moore's title-chasers from Duncan Ferguson's basement dwellers, more than a few minds will be brushing over Sunday's televised game at The New Lawn and skipping straight onto Wednesday's at Cheltenham Town, by which time the Owls should be back on top of the table.

Not Gregory's.

With Plymouth Argyle’s next league game not until Good Friday, a three-match sequence which ends with the visit of Lincoln City is a great opportunity to create some distance to the Pilgrims, who have currently played two games more.

Could the chance to put points on the board whilst Steven Schumacher's side are parked up be significant in the title race?

"I don't know, ask me at the end of the season," says Gregory with a smile.

"I think that's where it affected us last year (when they reached the play-off semi-finals), we were looking three or four games in front. This season we've stopped that and we just look at it one game at a time. I think that's helped us massively."

FIGHTER: Sheffield Wednesday's Lee Gregory, pictured tussling with Barnsley's Mads Andersen

Psychology plays its part in title races and Wednesday's will be tested by Tuesday's 4-2 defeat at Barnsley. Setbacks have been rare for a side who had gone half a league season – 23 matches – without defeat before bumping into Michael Duff's in-form men.

Fortunately, Sunday's home dressing room will be populated by some tough cookies, and Moore says former Halifax Town striker Gregory is certainly one of them.

"With us losing on Tuesday night it's massive for us to bounce back on Sunday," is how Gregory sees the game.

"We just need to take one game at a time, forget Plymouth, forget Ipswich, forget the league, just focus on Forest Green on Sunday. All we've got to do is just try and get a win there and then everything else will take care of itself.

GOALS: Lee Gregory is starting to hit goalscoring form at a similar stage of the year to last season

"I think it's the biggest thing we've done and another thing we have to learn is bouncing back rather than letting the negativity seep in and cause another upset."

Gregory has scored three goals in his last two matches. The two at Oakwell mean nothing to him because his side lost, but are a sign of his injury-hit slow-burner of a season heating up at just the right time.

Gregory has doubled his goal tally to eight since mid-February and still has designs on beating last term's 17 – he is quick to put right a journalist who mistakenly mentioned 16. This time last year he was also on eight.

"I feel like I'm getting back into rhythm now and hopefully it continues," is all Gregory feels the need to say, but Moore is more forthcoming.

"He's been there, seen it, done it," comments the manager. "He loves and relishes the challenge.

"He's super-confident. If he wasn't before the other night, he certainly is now.

"He's a confident man, nothing fazes him, he really believes in his ability and the role he plays really well for the team.

"Strikers have to have a certain confidence to believe they're going to score and if they're not, they believe they're going to assist."

But former centre-back Moore judges his strikers by more than that, and Gregory shapes up pretty well.

"When Greggers plays for us his all-round contribution to the team is so good so if he's not scoring, he's linking the play up, if he's not linking the play up he's leading the line, if he's not leading the line he’s closing people down and if he's not doing that he's vocal on the pitch," the manager is very keen to stress.

"He's a man's man, he leads by example.

"There's so many more attributes to Lee Gregory than just scoring goals but he’ll be happy with the couple he got on Tuesday.

"It's great to see him on the scoresheet and every single training session and game he's getting back to the Lee Gregory we know and contributing to the team.

"Certainly for our game we ask a lot of involvement from our strikers inside and outside the penalty area.

"Gone are the days where strikers can just pop up, score a goal and that's it, thank you very much,

"There's so much more now involved in the game in and out of possession."

It is a tough job but it sounds as if Gregory is in good shape physically and mentally for the challenges to come.

Lee Gregory on the big lesson Sheffield Wednesday learnt in last season's League One disappointment