Sheffield Wednesday need to shake off 'comfort blanket' quickly

It can be a convenient comfort blanket. But life for Sheffield Wednesday could get distinctly uncomfortable if they don’t embrace a less convenient truth.

The deception is best left with the likes of us and the temptation has been so great in recent times with the Owls unbeaten in nine league games since the unlucky early-October defeat at rivals Plymouth.

You know the sort of thing and I’m as guilty as anyone. “It’s a sign of a good team to play below your best and win” … or “the result is everything” … or, as per at Exeter last Saturday, “they found a way to avoid defeat.”

MORE: 17 players you may have forgotten played for both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday

Confusingly, there is some truth in all of the above and it is encouraging that Wednesday have come through a less than convincing period with a strong promotion challenge intact. Encouraging up to a point.

Eventually how well you play finds you out. Results generally follow performances and not the other way about.

So it follows that Darren Moore’s team have to get some fluency and fizz back into their game to keep up the required breakneck pace at the top of League One.

I don’t doubt they will, with or without Barry Bannan for any period, hopefully short. Bannan’s overriding influence is beyond question but this is the time to prove there is no over-reliance.

It helps that the Owls seldom look like conceding these days, but they aren’t posing a concerted attacking and that’s been the case for more than two months.

MORE: ‘He’d had enough’ – Moore reveals contract rejection and the progress since then

Strangely, you could argue that the best they have played since the Autumn was in that Plymouth reverse. Which runs the risk of destroying my own argument.

Parallels there with England’s World Cup heartbreak against France. Ninety minutes of football will always be a random affair.

But there is a strong sense that Wednesday are tempting fate with their recent levels and a price will be paid unless they up them.

It does not look a grind-out league. On the basis of the first 21 games - with leaders Ipswich on 45 points, Plymouth on 44 and the Owls 42 - it could well take 90 or more to finish top two.

While I’m not sure that pace will be maintained, Wednesday need to show more authority to widen the margin of error.

They can and, with this squad, I believe they will.