Brian Laws has praised the contribution of Lewis Buxton following Saturday's 3-1 win over Cardiff City at Hillsborough as the Owls prepare to face Neil Warnock's Crystal Palace tonight.

The Owls' weekend win saw plenty of praise heaped on Wednesday's forwards but Laws noted the role of his team's back line in securing an impressive Championship victory.

"With the kind of football we played and the score line from Saturday's match it is unsurprising that most of the talk after the match centred around the forwards, but it takes a full team performance to get any result and I was pleased with our defenders against Cardiff," Laws said.

"If it wasn't for the penalty we would have kept a clean sheet and all of our defenders deserve credit for the way they kept Cardiff at bay because Dave Jones' side are always a very potent attacking threat."

The Wednesday chief was particularly pleased with the role played by right back, Lewis Buxton, who experienced the pain of putting into his own net in the Sheffield derby eight days earlier.

"Having played against some top left wingers of late and scoring an own goal in the local derby, some players would have buckled under the pressure. But it's no surprise to coaching staff and players that he is made of sterner stuff, playing his part in an important win against Cardiff. I'm sure it will have given him some well-earned confidence."

The Owls now move on to two away games in quick succession, Crystal Palace tonight followed by a trip to Derby County on Saturday.

"We always expect Neil Warnock's sides to be tough to beat and tonight will be no exception," Laws said. "I think we have shown that we can cope with the rough as well as the smooth so far in this league and we will have to compete on the physical side of things again at Selhurst Park.

The Owls boss has been very pleased with his team's performances of late though and does not want any change in style from the passing game that has provided 17 goals already this term - second only to West Brom in the Championship this season.

"Our overall performances this season have been very good and some of our play has been exceptional, it's just been that mistakes and errors have cost us," Laws said. "Having listened to other managers recently I have heard many moaning that 'we should have done this better or we should have done that better' - it seems that we are all singing from the same hymn book because the goals conceded were avoidable and we are disappointed to concede them.

"We are delighted with the outcomes from our strikers so far this season, we're second top goal scorers in the league. Once we cut out those silly mistakes we really should drive up that league. It's important to remember that we defend as a team though and the root cause of some of the goals we had been conceding were as a result of midfielders or forwards not doing their defensive jobs and that has put extra pressure on the defenders. Against Cardiff though we faced two for the best strikers in the league, including Michael Chopra, who has been on fire, and they barely managed a shot on target in the second half so praise was warranted for our defensive display on Saturday."

Laws has also pleaded for patience with a minority of Owls fans as Wednesday stick to a game plan of flowing football to open up the opposition.

"It was strange to hear on Saturday but there were the odd few fans moaning that we were passing the ball rather than punting it up the middle to the front two as quickly as we possibly could. I think everyone has got to realise we are playing some of the best football since I have been at the football club. We are playing some really attractive football but it is patient football as well.

"That's why we have brought players like Darren Potter and Tommy Miller to the club. Etienne Esajas is also very comfortable playing that patient passing game and I want to play that way.

"On Saturday we put together a move of about eight passes and on the fourth pass some people started moaning because of a backward pass but that was part of the move that led to one of our goals. I am just asking fans to think a bit about the way they want us to play and have a bit more patience because if we show that kind of football and score at the end of it we will all be happy."

Register your support on the England 2018 website to bring the FIFA World Cup to England in 2018 and Back the Bid to see World Cup games hosted in Sheffield.

Back the Bid! Sheffield is gearing up for a share of World Cup glory and is urging the people of Sheffield to register their support for Sheffield to become a host city.

We want to show the world that the people of Sheffield are fanatical about football and passionate about bringing the FIFA World Cup to England in 2018. Every fan in the country has a part to play - add your name to the list of supporters now!