Shrewsbury Town v Sheffield Wednesday: Moore gets animated with Owls at a crossroads

This has been a distressing week as far as everyone connected with the club are concerned, not least Moore.

He has seen Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town close in on automatic promotion and to add a vat of salt, the Owls' neighbours from across the Steel City rubber-stamped their ticket back to the Premier League.

Emotions are running high on the blue and white side of Sheffield at the minute with Wednesday, who were top of the table with a five-point lead and two games in hand over the side in third place just seven weeks ago, now contemplating another play-off campaign.

It looks nailed on, unless something miraculous happens in the final two games of the regular season.

Owls fans who pack out the away end today will not be in party mode.

There's a good chance that celebrations will be staged for Home Park and Portman Road later today, with Argyle and Ipswich playing sides with nothing to play for at home. Should both win, as most expect, then the top-two race is all over, regardless of events in Shropshire.

Given where Wednesday were a month and a half ago, it's particularly galling.

Moore, the person who is the leader and public face of Wednesday's bid to escape the shackles of League One, must somehow keep things together.

The final table will probably not show the final outcome that most expected relatively recently, but he has to deal with it.

Looking backwards at what has gone on previously this season will not help in the here and now. Moore is acutely aware of that. Although some retrospective memory in his football career provided some comfort.

In his playing days, Moore was part of a Derby side who just missed out on automatic promotion right at the end of the 2006-07 season.

They entered the play-offs, dusted themselves down and held their nerve to win the play-offs.

The Owls chief: "I have been through that stage where we were in the top two and then dropped into third, but still managed to get it done.

"As a player then, you draw upon those experiences and feelings now.

"It was a unique time in terms of coming together and being solid and there was a real trust in one another.

"We beat top teams who had come down from the Premier League in Southampton and West Brom in the play-offs and I remember scoring.

"You look back on those memories in football. But to achieve that we know there's a long way to go."

As Wednesday head to border country today, their season is at a crossroads psychologically.

Feel sorry for themselves and think negative 'if only' thoughts and the season - and quite possibly Moore's tenure - will end in dissatisfaction and rancour at the end of another testing campaign.

Come together, find some form quickly and inject some positivity and things could yet change in the nick of time. Wednesday will have a chance.

The sight of Josh Windass back involved after nine matches out would certainly be an fillip and an invigorating start, should he be fit enough to feature today.

Moore continued: "What has gone this season is gone.

"All we can do is come together as one. The thing is we have always been looking backwards here (historically at the club), let's start looking forwards.

"Everyone has got their part to play. We can do two things. We can either decide the cup is half-empty and continue to look backwards, which is where we will always stay. Or come together, that's always been my metaphor. The quest comes from everybody.

"At this stage, if we go throwing the toys out, that is not going to help anybody connected here. We need the supporters help and that is vital. It has been all season and won't change for the remainder of what is left.

"There's still so much of the season to be played, irrespective of how the result goes on Saturday.

"There's still optimism and much to look forward to. We have to keep our minds clear.

"We can understand the emotion outside of it. But we have to maintain our focus, there's a lot of football to be played."

Behind the scenes, Moore has presided over many positive changes to the working environment for players and staff at Hillsborough, but ultimately he knows that he is judged by events on the pitch. That's where the pressure lies."

He continued: "You have to embrace it. When I came in, we knew where this football club was at for years and let's not be kidded.

"The biggest thing I have been impressed with the most is that to get to where we have got to now, it has been a joint effort and the whole mentality and culture of the football club has changed.

"Now is not the time to start pointing fingers. We must galvanise and come together."