Garry Monk talked of the need for the Wednesday players to show the same heart and courage displayed at Elland Road today for the remainder of the season.
Having seen us go to one of his former clubs and snatch all three points with two goals in the final seven minutes against the league leaders, Monk said: “I wanted the lads to play with their hearts, it’s something we talked about after that week where we lost three games. We were disappointed with that.
“Since then, in the last two games against really strong opposition in Brighton and then today I wanted them to show that if you play with real heart and courage on the pitch then you can do well and they have done that.
“That was the most important thing out of all this.
“That courage they have shown in the last two games is exactly what we need.
“We were disappointed with ourselves in that week where we lost three games and I was disappointed in the players. We spoke about it a lot and then there was the need for a response.
“The main part was to make sure they realise when you step onto the pitch and wear that shirt and what we’re doing together, you have to put your heart onto that pitch – it takes everything you’ve got.
“That’s the demand … to put that on the pitch every single game, we need to do that in every game now to the end of the season. If we do that we know we can compete and be in games to win.
“It’s what our fans expect. You expect players to crawl off that pitch having given everything because, even if we had lost that game today, you can live with that if you lost a game where you have put everything into it.
“What you can’t have is the three games in a week which we lost and we didn’t give everything. You can’t live with that and that’s the lesson to have come out of these last two games for the players,
“We didn’t have battered and bruised players in that week when we lost three games but in the last two weeks we have and that’s the price you have to pay, that’s the sacrifice you have to make, that’s the robustness you are looking for and the most pleasing thing that we have actually got bodies that are hurting and crawling, that’s how it should be.”
Monk added: “It was a difficult game for us. We knew that coming into it and it proved to be so all the way through.
“Most of all you have to try to match their intensity, it’s a difficult thing to do at a place like this and I thought we matched them.
“Especially in the second half, we tried to step ourselves up a little bit and we did that. You have to deal with the pressure and then when you get the chances you have to take them.
“I thought they were two really well-taken goals and with a clean sheet as well, we have to be very, very pleased with the result.”