'˜Stick with us' - Daniel Pudil calls on Sheffield Wednesday fans to keep the faith

Not with any affection this year by anyone at Hillsborough after Sheffield Wednesday once again proved to be to Mick McCarthy’s liking.

Since taking charge of Ipswich Town a little over four years ago, the Barnsley-born former defender’s side have faced the Owls eight times.

McCarthy is yet to taste defeat, goals from Tom Lawrence and Luke Chambers chalking up his fourth win over the Owls at the helm of the Tractor Boys.

Rarely did Carlos Carvalhal’s men look like breaking that sequence, either, in what was arguably the most frustrating of all those meetings.

Against a visiting side with just one win in eight games and extremely fortunate to rescue a point at home to bottom club Rotherham the previous weekend, Wednesday were a pale shadow of the side that lit up the Championship last season en route to the play-off final.

Ponderous on the ball and lacking sufficient wit once over the halfway line to open up a well-drilled visiting side whose energy levels never dipped, the Owls could have few complaints with the boos that rained down from three sides of Hillsborough at the final whistle.

What maybe did come as a surprise to the players, however, were the jeers that could be heard during the game. These frustrated catcalls came in the second half as Wednesday, their path to goal once again blocked by a mass of white shirts, played the ball along the back four in the hope of drawing an Ipswich player or two out of position.

This desire to put a rocket up their team on Bonfire Night from some in the 25,851 crowd was a clear indication of the expectation that now surrounds Carvalhal’s side after going so close to ending the club’s Premier League exile last season. It is also something that left-back Daniel Pudil admits is causing problems.

“We know we are a little bit under pressure,” said the Czech Republic international after being asked if the increased expectation was weighing heavily on the players.

“Right now, everyone is preparing really well to play us. The fans are pushing us, too. They want to see us in the Premier League. We want to see that as well.

“But, sometimes, maybe the people expect a little bit too much from us. We try to keep the ball and they start booing us. That is not the right way. It is not how we did it last season.

“People were still behind us (last season), even if something went wrong. We should be like that again.

“We believe in ourselves. But people need to be patient. Sheffield Wednesday had not had a season like last year for a couple of years. Maybe now they are asking for a little bit more than they should.

“Us and them need to keep our feet on the ground and start to work like we did last season. If we do that, everything will go the right way because we need the fans more than they know.”

Carvalhal was keen to stress post-match that his side’s return of 24 points from 16 games is identical to a year ago.

But, as the frustrated shouts of the fans vividly illustrated, the SW6 landscape has changed over those intervening 12 months.

After going so close last May and considerable transfer funds then being made available by ambitious owner Dejphon Chansiri, Wednesday carry a level of expectation that makes a play-off place the bare minimum target.

The gap to sixth-placed Leeds United stands at just two points so, in that respect, a second tilt at the promotion deciders is very much on.

But a place in the top two – surely what has to be the real goal of a beaten play-off finalist before a ball is kicked in anger, as it was for Middlesbrough in 2015-16 – already looks beyond Wednesday.

Brighton boast a 10-point advantage over the 10th-placed Owls, with Newcastle a further three points in front at the top. Even in a division where predicting a weekend’s results with any degree of success is nigh on impossible, that is a huge deficit to make up.

As has been the case for much of this season, Wednesday’s struggles against Ipswich could be attributed to a midfield that is nowhere near as effective as last season.

Sam Hutchinson’s switch into the back four has underlined the former Chelsea youngster’s versatility but it has also taken away the bite and energy that made the Owls such a tough opponent in the centre of the field.

This much was again apparent against an Ipswich side allowed to settle before taking the lead just after the half-hour. Tom Lawrence, after correctly reading Jack Hunt’s intention to try and flick the ball over him, claimed possession on halfway.

He had just one intention, to run straight at a home defence that was soon back-pedalling. Then, after cleverly shielding the ball from Tom Lees, Lawrence unleased an unstoppable 20-yard shot that flew into the bottom corner of the net.

Wednesday’s response was impressively swift, Gary Hooper prodding in the equaliser just four minutes later after Bartosz Bialkowski had only been able to parry a low drive from David Jones.

Hooper did bring a smart save from Bialkowski soon after the restart. Steven Fletcher also headed over when well placed but, after that, Wednesday rarely looked like forcing a winner.

Nor did they seem destined to lose until, in the final 10 minutes, Ipswich suddenly sensed their chance. Freddie Sears and Jonathan Williams both went close before the game’s decisive moment arrived three minutes from time when Chambers diverted Christophe Berra’s header that was going wide into the net without, it seemed, knowing too much about it.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood; Hunt, Lees, Hutchinson, Pudil; Bannan, Lee, Jones (Wallace 74), Reach (Forestieri 57); Hooper (Abdi 81), Fletcher. Unused substitutes: Dawson, Palmer, Loovens, Buckley.

Ipswich Town: Bialkowski; Chambers, Webster, Berra, Knudsen; Skuse, Bishop (Williams 70), Lawrence (Bru 79), Ward (Varney 90), Sears, McGoldrick. Unused substitutes: Gerken, Emmanuel, Kenlock, Best.

Referee: A Madley (Huddersfield).