Jones prepares squad for ‘mini-season’

With nine games to go and Championship survival at stake, Dave Jones has described our run-in as a mini-season in itself.

The Owls boss says: “We’re coming to the gritty part of the season … it’s like a mini-season and it’s where we need to push and drive forward.”

Considering the next two matches – relegation six-pointers at home to Barnsley and then away to Bristol City over the Easter weekend – Jones described them as “big games” and said we will need to utilise the full squad in what will be a very busy period.

Looking at the run-in as a whole, he said some managers show their feelings as highs and lows, depending on results, but Jones said “it is all about being you” and important that he and the staff don’t change their way of working because of the situation.

He said: “The best way is to stay level-headed, to be quite precise in what you are trying to do and make sure the players are focussed on that.”

Jones added:  “We are one of the league’s in-form teams and we’ve got to maintain that in the run-in.”