Millwall v Sheffield Wednesday – How fostering family affair can help carry Owls towards safety

The Sheffield Wednesday forward was part of a Hearts squad who were relegated from the SPL in 2013-14 – a season which started with the Jambos being deducted 15 points after entering administration in June, 2013.

The following season, Paterson played a leading role as the Tynecastle outfit made an immediate return to Scotland’s top-flight.

The 26-year-old then proved a key cog in a Cardiff side who were promoted to the Premier League in his debut season at the club in 2017-18 when he scored or assisted 15 goals in 32 Championship outings.

His selflessness and run-through-brick-walls mentality was lauded by Neil Warnock, who thought the world of him.

On the international stage, Paterson was recently involved with a Scotland squad who have cast aside barbs from the cynics to end the country’s epic wait to reach a major finals – which was achieved on an intoxicating night in Belgrade in November.

Now, Paterson is among of a group of Wednesday players who are fighting for the club’s Championship existence and their own second-tier futures.

On and off the pitch, it has been a season of upheaval at times, but the Hillsborough outfit are starting to fight back under Neil Thompson.

Team spirit is increasingly evident, as showcased by the celebrations from the players, substitutes and staff members following Jordan Rhodes’s dramatic last-gasp midweek winner at Bournemouth on Tuesday night.

Paterson said: “We have got a massive diversity of people. English, Scottish people and it is a real mix of people and we all get on well. It is like a family and that goes a long way on the park.

“The relationships you build off the park help you on it.

“I have been in a situation similar to this up in Scotland at Hearts with the points deduction.

“The group of players who we kept were like a family and we were all similar ages and all knew each other and that was good fun and we went straight back up.

“At Cardiff, we had a bunch of ‘misfits’ and people coming up from Scotland and players who had also been injured and out of contract and we went up to the Premier League in the first season.

“It is all about building the right sort of dressing room and it can help massively on the pitch.”

A tireless worker, Paterson has also been doing his bit on the scoring front of late, notching four goals in his last seven matches in all competitions.

It represents an overdue reward for the sort of respected and dedicated professional on whom successful survival missions are forged around.

The self-effacing striker added: “I had a fluke in Scotland where I scored in five or six games and didn’t score many after that!

“But it has been a good run of form and a case of ‘right place, right time’ and hopefully I can continue that.”

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