Irvine: Owls’ Standards Are Set

New Wednesday boss Alan Irvine was delighted with victory in his first game in charge against Barnsley, but has warned his players that the standards are now set.

The Owls put in a much-improved performance to see off South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley 2-1 thanks to first-half goals from Tommy Spurr and Jermaine Johnson.

And Irvine has called for more of the same from his battling troops, as Wednesday look to haul themselves out of trouble in the Championship for the remainder of the season.

‘It was an absolutely terrific performance from the lads, the application was good, but this is only a start,’ he told the official SWFC website.

‘If we think that’s it and everything is ok from now then we’ll end up having problems.

‘The players have set the benchmark today in terms of the levels required to stay in this division and it’s up to us to make sure we don’t fall below this levels of commitment, determination and application.’

Wednesday now have another huge came to prepare for against Blackpool on Tuesday, a clash rearranged from the festive fixture schedule.

But for Barnsley boss Mark Robins, it’ll be a time to rebuild after the Tykes fell to their third defeat from as many games in 2010.

And he felt his side deserved more from the game, telling BBC Sport: ‘It was a typical derby game. There was a lot of passion and a lot of commitment and endeavour.

‘But sometimes there wasn’t enough control or skill from both sides.

‘We shot ourselves in the foot too many times. We got ourselves back into the game with a rather fortunate goal and conceded two poor goals which puts you on the back foot.

‘We had more possession in the second half, threw everything at them and didn’t really deserve to lose the game.’