Ipswich Town are looking to make it back-to-back wins for the first time this season as Sheffield Wednesday come to Portman Road today. MIKE BACON takes a look at the Owls.
THE STORY SO FAR
Three wins, two draws and two defeats, Sheffield Wednesday sit in 13th place in League One, seven places and five points ahead of Town.
The Owls, relegated from the Championship last season after a six-point deduction saw them finish bottom of the table.
But League One is now where they are and, after a promising start with three straight wins, the Owls have since picked up just one point from their last nine available. A big club in this division, Sheffield Wednesday, like Town have already done, have hit the reality button.
THE GAFFER
Darren Moore's playing career saw the no-nonsense centre-half record almost 600 League appearances, including almost 100 in the Premier League with both West Brom and Derby County.
He took over as boss of Wednesday in March this year, leaving Doncaster who were, at the time in the League One play-off positions, compared to Wednesday who were in the Championship relegation zone.
Moore was unwell due to Covid during his time with the Owls last season and he watched his side get relegated on the final day of the campaign after a dramatic 3-3 draw with Derby County, that saw Wayne Rooney's Rams safe.
And he knows the responsibility of managing such a big club.
"It is an honour to be at this football club and I will continue to work as hard as I can to help the club win matches and compete and make people proud," he said recently.
A devout Christian, Moore has helped raise thousands of pounds for children's causes, including one time when he walked the Great Wall of China, back in 2005.
THE LAST TIME
Town and Sheffield Wednesday have met on more than 50 occasions, going back to their first meeting back in 1958, in Division Two, that the Owls won 2-0 at Portman Road.
Both teams have won 20 games each in all competitions but there have been long years of barren spells when the two sides never met.
Both teams were part of the inaugural Premiership in the 1993/93 season but, over the next two seasons, before Town were relegated, Ipswich never beat Wednesday in the Premiership.
The last time the two sides met was in February 2019 at Portman Road in the Championship, the Owls winning 1-0 thanks to a late Lucas Joao that gave Steve Bruce a winning start as Wednesday boss, with Paul Lambert's Town remaining rooted to the bottom of the table on their way to relegation.
THE ODDS
The bookies are hedging their bets on this one and while many are making Town very slight favourities, clearly they feel this is a tough one to call.
Ipswich win: 13/8; Sheffield Wed win 17/10; Draw 11/5
DID YOU KNOW?
Sheffield Wednesday are called as such because Sheffield-based ‘The Wednesday Cricket Club’ (formed in 1820, named after the day of the week on which they played) wanted to branch out into football to keep the team fit and together during the winter.
And so, on September 4, 1867, at the now-demolished Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield, a general meeting was held where the decision was made to form ‘The Wednesday Football Club’.
They would re-name to their current title of ‘Sheffield Wednesday’ in 1929.
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