Video - Sheffield Wednesday 3 Charlton 0: It is time for Owls to hold nerve and reach play-offs

This is the view of Owls defender Tom Lees after he netted against struggling Charlton to help strengthen their grip on a Championship play-off spot.

With the chasing pack of Cardiff City, Ipswich Town and Birmingham City all dropping points, Wednesday are three points clear in sixth spot with a superior goal difference worthy of an extra point.

Eight games remain of the regular season, over the next seven weeks, as they chase a return to the Premier League after a 16-year exile.

Wednesday have to hold their nerve, and Lees, 25, believes for many of his team-mates the final eight games can be the pinnacle of their careers to date.

“I think everyone in the dressing room is in the same mood, we are really focused, it’s probably the biggest seven weeks in a lot of our careers,” said Lees.

“We have to live our jobs for the next seven weeks, really knuckle down, be together and professional.

“If we have days like Charlton, if it gets tense and frustrating, we need to stick together and make Hillsborough an intimidating place to come.

“As soon as we came in, we checked the results, and they went really well for us.

“It gave us a big lift, and when you look at the last few weeks, although we haven’t picked up as many wins as we would have liked, we have got some good points. Draws against Hull and Brighton were good points and Forest was a big win.

“It’s nice to see other teams around you dropping points rather than us.

“We don’t want to get too carried away, but we know if we want to get in the play-offs, the last two games we won were games we should win.”

There was little to excite the 30,000 inside Hillsborough – the biggest league gate of the season – in a scrappy opening 45 minutes.

Fernando Forestieri went closest to breaking the deadlock, but his looping header was cleared by Addicks goalkeeper Nick Pope.

It prompted Owls head coach Carlos Carvalhal to send on Spaniard Alex Lopez for Sam Hutchinson – who picked up a first-half injury – and tall striker Atdhe Nuhiu for the ineffective Aiden McGeady. Nuhiu’s physique and height advantage changed the Owls’ attacking emphasis, with the nippy Forestieri allowed to drift out wide.

Charlton, fresh from beating Middlesbrough , had a game plan to spoil the game and frustrate the hosts’ free-flowing football.

Allied to a poor pitch, the visitors’ tactics were working, but Wednesday broke the deadlock on 64 minutes.

Ross Wallace’s corner picked out Lees at the far post, and his header powered beyond Pope.

It was reward for sessions on the training ground as Wednesday looked to exploit a Charlton side who now have the worst defensive record in the Championship, conceding 69 goals in 38 games.

“Goals are something I am trying to add to my game,” said Lees.

“It’s something which the manager talked to me about this week, especially with Charlton’s record against set-plays. He has been in my ear all week.

“We worked on a few things at the back end of the week in training and, luckily, it paid off. I try to mix my run-ups, but that (set-play) was something Carlos wanted to work on this week. We looked to exploit that area.”

After Lees’s goal, Charlton’s resolve faded quickly, with two more goals inside 12 minutes.

Jack Hunt – who was stretchered off late on – fired in a cross that Nuhiu headed against a post and the lurking Forestieri nipped in to tuck away the rebound. Wallace then laid an inviting ball back to Lopez, who drilled in a long-range shot, which found its way into Pope’s goal after a fortunate deflection off Charlton defender El-Hadji Ba.

Having picked up just one point from their previous two games at Hillsborough – drawing with QPR and losing to Rotherham United – Lees admitted “things seem a little tense”.

But a half-time pep talk from Carvalhal, who urged his team to be quicker with the ball, and more aggressive, did the trick.

“In the first half, it was a similar story to how it has been at Hillsborough for the last few weeks,” said Lees.

“You can tell it’s getting to the business end of the season, things seem a little tense. I think we have actually played worse in the first half, in the last few weeks.

“Against Charlton, I know it was a bit slow at times, but I don’t think we played badly. Charlton didn’t commit to the game, they were so deep. There wasn’t much space behind for us to exploit, and it made it difficult for us.

“At half-time, the manager said we weren’t playing badly but we needed to ‘up it’ and look like we were the team who wanted to get in the play-offs.

“I think we did that in the second half. He wanted it to be quicker, aggressive, not quite so patient. The time of the first goal was good because it forced them to come out, they attempted to commit men forward, and we picked them off.”

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood, Hunt, Lees, Loovens, Pudil, Wallace (Matias 83), Lee, Hutchinson (Lopez 45), McGeady (Nuhiu 45), Forestieri, Hooper. Unused substitutes: Wildsmith, Palmer, Sasso, Joao.

Charlton: Pope, Motta, Fanni, Teixeira, Fox, Berg Gudmundsson, Ba (Jackson 78), Diarra (Lookman 83), Yun, Harriott, Ghoochannejhad (Vetokele 68). Unused substitutes: Makienok, Lennon, Mitov, Poyet.

Referee: S Attwell (Warwicks).