Sheffield Wednesday: Has a pep talk and a dramatic late winner given new life to Owl's Plan A?

Fortunately, Danny Rohl is not one of those modern-day footballing "philosophers" with only one way of playing. Not blessed with the quality of players he worked with in his previous coaching jobs he is wary of making the most of the tools he has.

When it comes to his No 9s, Smith has always been the fall-back option.

Rohl would prefer to play possession football based around fast-moving strikers, which is why he brought Jamal Lowe – who last season had a second spell playing Swansea City's pass-you-to-death football – and Ike Ugbo, a loan success in the second half of last season at Hillsborough, joined permanently in the summer.

Smith – like the versatile Callum Paterson – is the man to throw in when something more direct, more rugged is called for, often in the desperation minutes late in games.

After a pre-season working on Plan A – Lowe was signed nice and early, Ugbo arrived rusty and late – Rohl showed it off against Plymouth Argyle on the opening weekend.

A sharp-looking Lowe scored early, Wednesday had 59 per cent of the ball and substitute Smith put the cherry on the top of a 4-0 win with the final goal.

But since then, reality has crept in.

So far this season the Owls have had less of the ball than their opponents – just 42.7 per cent at Hillsborough, where you would expect them to set the agenda.

As the days and nights have got colder Smith has come to the fore, starting four of the last eight matches and scoring in three (his goal at Hull City was off the bench).

When only Josh Windass has outscored him (five to four), how can you ignore Smith? But playing him over Lowe or Ugbo changed the way Wednesday play.

It will come as no great surprise to anyone that according to WhoScored.com, only Sheffield Wednesday's centre-backs outdo Smith this season for balls won in the air. His 2.7 per Championship game is way above Ugbo (0.8) and Lowe (0.6). It is not their game.

It very much is Smith's, the archetypal targetman whose mere presence on the pitch tends to make his team play longer.

Lowe and Ugbo's is to drop off the front and link up play with their feet. The former’s pass success rate is 83 per cent, the latter’s 78.9. Smith's 63.6 is the second-lowest in the squad after Paterson.

But Smith is by far the most effective of the three at the moment.

It is not just his four goals to Lowe's two. Both have two assists, Ugbo none of either.

Smith plays more key passes per game, has as many shots as Lowe (more than Ugbo), is dispossessed least and Wednesday win more games when he starts.

Smith's win percentage is 57, Lowe's 43 and Ugbo's 36.

As recently as last week, it looked like a straight battle between Smith and Ugbo, with Lowe not having started since October. Having played most minutes despite his lack of goals or assists, Ugbo is clearly Rohl's favourite.

"They bring different profiles in and both have confidence," the German said of the pair.

"Smudge has scored goals recently and Ike started well against Hull. I told him after the game his improvement is going in the right direction."

But a pep talk from Rohl seems to have done Lowe some good and when a tight Ugbo hamstring after the Hull game opened the door for him to come off the bench at Derby on Sunday, he took his chance.

The question is whether we are about to now see a different Lowe as a result. Rohl thought he had already detected one beforehand.

"I've seen the last six, eight weeks that he's hard working," he insisted.

"I had a conversation with him after the first international break about how he handled some setbacks because there was a time when he was really down.

"I said 'Jamal, you never know what happens, keep going and be positive.'

"He is absolutely a team player. Before the game he is loud, he is speaking to his team-mates and this is helpful because then you are ready to come into the game.

"If you are too disappointed and too negative you cannot turn it when you come on."

With three of Wednesday's next four matches at home, starting with Preston North End on Saturday, could this be Lowe's time?

With Ugbo expected to be fit, will Rohl, not wedded to any formation, pair him or Lowe with the confident Smith or will that cause a problem accommodating Windass, whose 45-minute cameo from the bench at Pride Park underline how much the team miss him when he is injured or, as on Sunday, only half-fit?

Rohl has a big call to make but Lowe's weekend goal makes Plan A a more viable option. And Rohl is not a manager afraid to consider his options.