Danny Rohl says Sheffield Wednesday part of ‘unbelievable race’ to avoid drop

Posted Wednesday, March 06, 2024 by PA

Sheffield Wednesday head coach Danny Rohl will celebrate his side’s 1-0 home win against Plymouth by de-briefing with former boss Hansi Flick.

Former Germany boss Flick was at Hillsborough to see Djeidi Gassama score a second-half winner to give Rohl’s relegation battlers real momentum.

Rohl, who worked as Flick’s assistant at Bayern Munich as well as with the Germany national team, has guided the Owls to five wins in their last six Sky Bet Championship matches and to within sight of safety.

“Yesterday we had dinner together,” Rohl said. “It was nice to see him again after five months and we spoke just now and he will come in my room.

“It’s good to have him here. When you have been assistant coach to him it’s good to show him you can do it. It’s fantastic. He’s a good guy.

“You can speak about the football side and speak about the private side and this is helpful.”

Wednesday remain in the bottom three, but having been there since the second game of the season only goal difference now separates them from the two sides immediately above the drop zone – Huddersfield and QPR.

Rohl said: “In the last few weeks we’ve invested a lot of things to come to this point now. We come closer. We’ve closed the gap and it’s an unbelievable race at the bottom of the table, maybe eight or nine teams around us.”

Next up for Wednesday is the visit to Hillsborough of Yorkshire rivals Leeds on Friday and Rohl is relishing the prospect of giving Owls fans more to cheer.

Rohl added: “This is the outcome from the last few weeks and I hope we can recover for a big game on Friday. I hope we are sold out and everybody comes to push us forward.

“We have to really enjoy it. It is my wish on Friday we have a great atmosphere and this power from the stands to the pitch and from the pitch to the stands. It could be massive on Friday.”

Plymouth remain in 16th place, but sit just two points above the Owls after slipping to their fifth defeat in seven league games.

Ian Foster’s side rallied after going behind to Gassama’s 60th-minute strike, but failed to create any clear-cut chances.

Foster said: “Our reaction is one of bitter disappointment. We didn’t feel it was a game we ought to have lost.

“It’s really unfortunate the manner of the goal – Adam (Randell) has made an honest mistake, he should have cleared his lines and unfortunately for Adam he slipped over and they’ve scored on the transition.

“It’s bitterly disappointing for us. Second half I thought the team were perfect in terms of their approach, I thought we bossed the second half and I can’t believe that we’ve come away having lost the game.”