It’s fair to say Sheffield Wednesday had a difficult summer with Financial Fair Play biting, but as we come to the end of the September international break we do sit in 11th place in the Championship table with three wins, one draw and two defeats from our opening six games of the 2018/19 year.
FT | Owls Under-23s defeat @ColU_Official 2-1 (own goal, Fox; Chilvers (pen)) #swfc pic.twitter.com/VnwyOEUvqI
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) September 10, 2018
It may have been a slow start, but it’s turned into a steady one as we notched up three straight wins in recent matches and the mood around the club has significantly improved on the back of the that.
With Jos Luhukay still to welcome back a number of players from injury, news that Gary Hooper and Kieran Lee had returned to training was warmly greeted and they’ve taken another step as both started for our Under 23 side in the game against Colchester United yesterday.
YES YES YEs!!!!
— Luke Askham (@Luke_Askham) September 10, 2018
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— Lee SWFC Hague (@75HagueSWFC) September 10, 2018
Good news hope they both come thru injury free
— SWFC Old John (@FootieSwfc) September 10, 2018
Excellent news
— Jimmy (@ramonegangster) September 10, 2018
Like 2 new signings ????????
— Kieron Comley-Inkles (@Kinks83) September 10, 2018
Exactly don’t rush em back slowly steady
— Kieron Comley-Inkles (@Kinks83) September 10, 2018
Both are key players for us following their arrivals from Norwich City and Oldham Athletic respectively and they will be massive boosts when fit to bolster our options moving forward given they have been out since December 2017. Whether Hooper can come into contention for this weekend, I’d imagine that will come slightly too early I would think, but it certainly won’t be long before he comes into the gaffer’s thoughts.
The story is a little different for Lee as although Hooper got 45 minutes under his belt, Lee was substituted 16 minutes in with a so far unstated issue. He’s set to be assessed and looked at later today, but Neil Thompson wasn’t giving anything away post game.
On Kieran Lee going off, Neil Thompson told me: "The first-team staff will have a look at him as we go forward. He got some minutes in so we will obviously see how he is tomorrow." #SWFC
— Dom Howson (@domhowson) September 10, 2018
There was some discussion if 15 minutes was pre-planned, but that doesn’t seem likely.
