Tudgay intent on upsetting family as Owls tackle Derby

The Sheffield Wednesday striker spent 10 years at County and all of his family are Rams fans, so there will be split loyalties in the Tudgay household come 3pm tomorrow.

The Owls striker has been inundated with requests for tickets for the Hillsborough match and is looking forward to a family reunion.

"I was there (at Derby) for 10 years, as a kid growing up, so it all started there for me," said the 27-year-old.

"But I have moved away from there now, I work here, and against Derby we need the points. I won't be holding back, it will be all guns firing.

"I have got to go see the ticket man – no doubt he will be hiding from me. It will be a good day out for the family. I enjoy them coming to watch, and they enjoy it too, so it should be a good day."

Tudgay is the Owls' top scorer, his second-half equaliser in midweek at Preston North End nudging him up to nine goals for the season.

But that did not stop manager Alan Irvine leaving Tudgay out earlier this month. He missed the narrow defeat at West Brom with illness and accepted his fate when he was only named as a substitute for the following game at Swansea.

"Against West Brom they played well, so why should I be back in the team straight away?" he said.

"They played well as a team, defended well, nearly got the point, so why change things just because I'm back and not ill?

"I wasn't disappointed, my head didn't go down, it's just one of those things and I knew my time would come again, as it did the other night.

"I'm not going to whinge, I just need to make sure when I get the chance again I get the goals and play well, which I think I did do (against Preston).

"Everyone has to play well, we can't have any slackers in the side. It's not fair on the team if you have got some doing half a shift and others giving 100 per cent."

Wednesday go into the Derby game with spirits high. After their 5-0 drubbing at Reading, the Owls have beaten Leicester City and taken deserved draws from trips to Swansea and Preston.

At Deepdale, Tudgay – who has made over 150 league appearances in four years at Hillsborough – helped inspire a comeback after being 2-0 down in the second half.

He said: "We could have caved in, got our heads down, and conceded a third, but we dug in, got the luck with Tommy Miller's goal which kept our hopes alive and we went on to get the draw, which was very pleasing."

Wednesday's hopes of avoiding relegation to League One will not be decided during the next week, but home games against Derby tomorrow and Watford four days later mean they can go a long way to securing their status.

Both the Rams and Hornets sit just above Wednesday in the table and victory over Derby would cut the gap on the Rams to just one point.

Luke Varney misses out tomorrow under the terms of his loan deal from Derby so Irvine must choose between Francis Jeffers and Leon Clarke, with the latter likely to get the nod to partner Tudgay.

Irvine knows Jeffers from their time at Everton and believes he can still be a goal threat despite an injury-plagued time at Hillsborough.

In almost three seasons, the former England striker has started just 28 Championship matches for the Owls.

"He's still a terrific finisher, his movement's very good, and he's a player that – if we can get him fit enough and play in enough games – then he can certainly be a threat," said Irvine.

"Franny has that ability to get you a goal and even when he has been out injured, you certainly have to consider him."