Frustration and disappointment swept through the Owls’ dressing room following the defeat at Stoke on Boxing Day.
An out of character below par performance from Wednesday at the bet365 Stadium saw Garry Monk’s side suffer a rare defeat in the Championship.
The relentless period of fixtures has seen the Owls thrive home and away in recent weeks but as the run came to end on Thursday, Monk was pragmatic in defeat after the circumstances which led to his side's downfall.
“We’ve shown we can go on good winning runs and we want that again,” he said. “This league is littered with setbacks and every single team will have them.
“The but key when you have a setback is how you respond to it and in as short a time period as you can. The best time to respond is after one game, you don’t want it to go into two, three or four.
“All eyes will be on the game on Sunday at home in front of our fans to show that fight and will to win the game.”
Wednesday will run out at Hillsborough for the final time this decade on Sunday and Monk has expectations for a big reaction from his players, with no hangover from that late double Boxing Day blow.
“I don’t expect that from this group, they’ve been very good. There was huge disappointment after the game but I expect a real reaction on Sunday,” he added.
“Cardiff will be tough, every game is. It’s what we face every week, tight competitive games and in this period especially, a lot of it is down to fine margins.
“We need to fight to make sure we come out on top, like we did against Bristol City.
“We will be ready for that and we’ll try to pick the team that we think can do it.”