Sheffield Wednesday managed to claim their first league point of the season on Saturday, earning a deserved goalless draw against much-fancied Yorkshire rivals Leeds United at Elland Road.
The result dragged Wednesday off the foot of the Championship table on goal difference and gave them a much-needed boost heading into a two-week international break.
The Owls will be without Di’shon Bernard, Juan Delgado, Devis Vasquez and new man Jeff Hendrick who are all away on international duty.
Pierce Charles and Devlan Moses are also away with Northern Ireland’s under-18s.
But the rest of the squad will be put through their paces by Xisco and his coaching staff, with the Owls boss having spoken of the break’s importance in further instilling his methods into the players.
It’s something subscribed to by skipper Barry Bannan, who admitted their getting off the mark was important.
He said: “You don’t want to panic and listen to the outside noise but there comes a point where you’ve got to get points and Saturday was that situation, before the international break where we just needed to get a point or three points.
“Now we’ve got two weeks to work on us as a group and what we want to do going forward.
“We’ll have a lot of days working hard and trying to strike our philosophy into the games coming up after the international break.”
On the performance and result at Leeds, Bannan waxed lyrical on the togetherness shown by his side after what has been a difficult start to the campaign.
“There won’t be much tougher places to come this season, especially with the situation we find ourselves in with no points,” he continued.
“It shows the attitude of the boys and the desire we’ve got in that changing room to come here and fight and get a point for the club.
“That will only add to the confidence and add to the squad going forward.”
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