Barry Bannan: Sheffield’s captain Wednesday asks for great heads

The captain of Sheffield Wednesday, Barry Bannan, has urged his team “not to be trapped in the noise” in the Steel City derby on Sunday against Sheffield United.

The veteran Scot, 35, has made 400 appearances in the League for the OWLS and does not feel like five games against their city rivals.

On Wednesday he lost the Inverse accessory 1-0 in Bramall Lane in November and has not defeated the blades since February 2012.

“Both teams die to win and put everything at stake,” Radio Sheffield told BBC

“I think the most important thing is to stick to the game plan and not be trapped with the noise from the outside and who does the best thing to leave with the points.

“People say it’s just another game, but it’s not so, it means more for people in Sheffield, so we know what is at stake. Obviously, the first game was close to the end.

“We are back in our place now and we will get all the burning weapons to try to win the game because it would be three mass points to try to get where we want.”

Wednesday enters the game in good shape after recording consecutive victories in Plymouth last Saturday and Norwich on Tuesday.

The owls stayed south between the two games and Bannan took the group to a group in the field after returning 2-0 down to win 3-2.

He believes that this could be a “fundamental” week since Danny Rohl’s men, who are now five points out of the first six, seek to return to the play-off dispute with nine games to go.

“We had eliminated eight points from the play-offs, so we knew they were two mass games before the derby on Sunday we had to concentrate.

“We were there far from the families and it was a lot of trip, but it was worth now because we went out with maximum points and that prepares us.

“When you get this type of trip, you approach as a group and I think it was a crucial moment in the season to return from 2-0 in Norwich.

“I told them that I was proud of them and how they had led and I just wanted to thank them for their efforts.”