DANNY ROHL praised his Sheffield Wednesday side’s resilience on the road as they picked up another point on their travels with a 1-1 draw at Cardiff City.
The Bluebirds had dominated the first half and sped into a 1-0 lead through a goal from Isaak Davies, but three changes at the break by Rohl turned the tide.
In the second half the Owls were a different side as they made it nine wins and three draws in 20 away matches this season.
“Our away performances have been incredible this season, even though we only took a point today. Last season we finished with 53 points, now we have 52 points with seven games to get a lot more points,” said Rohl, who suggested before the game it would take six wins out of the remaining eight games for his side to reach the play-offs.
“We have reduced the gap from six to five points to the play-offs, it means we look up and I want to see a team who attack the next position.
“We have nothing to lose now, we can go all in. Second half today, we went all in, but in the Championship this is not enough to win a game.”
A goal from Michael Ihiekwe from a corner just past the hour mark got Wednesday back on level terms and their single point took them up to 12th in the table.
“I think this result was fair for both teams. At this stage of the season it’s not an easy game and in the first half we felt that, playing against a team fighting for their life to stay in the league,” added Rohl.
“I saw a team in the second half on the front foot, creating pressure and moments. It was exactly the game I expected.”
Davies had tormented the visitors’ defence down the right from early on and broke the deadlock in the 21st minute.
He had fluffed his lines with another chance 10 minutes earlier when he was free in front of goal, but he finished off a sweeping move in style as he cut in from the right edge of box before firing with his left foot into the bottom corner.
Cardiff totally dominated the opening 45 minutes with Wednesday failing to get off a shot and playing the whole half on the back foot. It was little wonder then that Rohl made three changes during the interval, hooking Rio Hatsuse, Jamal Lowe and Nathaniel Chalobah.
He sent on Marvin Johnson, Shea Charles and Svante Ingelsson in their place and the energy levels, intensity and commitment rose immediately. Having been forced to play second fiddle to the home side, Wednesday went up two gears and levelled just past the hour mark.
A corner from the left was met with a firm header in the middle of the goal by Ihiekwe and Ethan Horvath had no chance of stopping it. That inspired both teams to keep pressing forward for a winner.
Pierce Charles was forced into a diving effort to push a Davies shot clear in the 70th minute and then Salech headed inches wide soon after.
Anwar El Ghazi had one final forlorn shot just before the end of the three minutes of added time for the home side, and they now face two away trips to QPR and Preston before hosting Stoke in a huge game in the relegation zone.
Cardiff City: Horvath, Ng (Colwill 86), Fish, Bagan, O’Dowda, Mannsverk (Turnbull 63), Chambers, Davies (Tanner 77), Ashford, Alves (El Ghazi 64), Salech (Meite 86). Unused substitutes: Turner, Goutas, Daland, Robertson.
Sheffield Wednesday: P Charles, Valentin, Iorfa (Famewo 83), Ihiekwe, Hatsuse (Johnson 46), Chalobah (S Charles 46), Bannan, Paterson (Smith 67),Windass, Gassama, J Lowe (Ingelsson 46). Unused substitutes: Beadle, Kobacki, Musaba, Ugbo.
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