Dave Jones has spoken of his delight after seeing his side emerge triumphant from Saturday’s basement battle with local rivals Barnsley.
Chris O’Grady’s first half goal was enough to secure all three points as the Owls ended their recent run of seven straight defeats.
Jones said: “I am delighted, of course I am. They have battled, they have fought, they have put their bodies on the line and they did exactly what we wanted.
“We’ve had a right go at some of them in the week because we have been playing well in games and silly mistakes have cost us.
“But there was nothing like that today and we got the response that we wanted.
“ I will give them the biggest slap on the back when they deserve it and today I give them every credit.
“They are a fantastic group of players, they are a pleasure to work for and they have proved again that this is a group that is completely together.
“When you have been on a run like we were, there is always someone who thinks they know what is going on inside the football club, there is always a rumour here and a rumour there.
“The simple fact is that you don’t give a performance like we saw today without the group being together.
“And I must mention the fans too. There were 4,000 of them and I asked in the week for them to stay right behind us.
“They delivered – I thought they were fantastic and at last we are sending them home happy.”
The Owls’ boss explained that on occasion teams have to win ugly in a bid to break free of the danger zone, whilst accepting that his side benefited from a rare slice of luck.
He added: “If there is a nudge on the goalkeeper before we scored the goal, then maybe Lady Luck was smiling on us for once.
“That could be a Christmas present and we will take it, although the referee hasn’t given a foul so he didn’t think there was one.
“But I will take any win after the run we have been on. Sometimes you have to win ugly, you have to earn your luck and that is what we did today.”