It’s been cut before and can be again, was Danny Röhl’s take on our gap to Championship safety.
Wednesday were at one stage 13 points adrift but a strong run of results in December saw the deficit cut to just three in quickfire time.
Three has become eight and Röhl has underlined the importance of unity in order to reignite our survival hopes.
The packed fixture schedule meant there had to be changes for the midweek Emirates FA Cup defeat at Coventry.
Nine changes were made to the starting XI and those rested will come back into contention for Friday’s key clash with Birmingham at Hillsborough.
“I had to look to the big picture and it was a decision I made to leave some players at home,” Röhl said.
“Now we focus on Birmingham on Friday night. We need a good performance but not just a good performance we need a result.
“We need everyone behind us to create a positive energy. It is either this or you go another way.
“I can understand people are disappointed, we have dropped down again, I understand this, results in the last weeks were not what we want.
“But what we have to think is there are 48 points to compete for and this is the challenge.
“This is our only chance and I have told my players this. We have come back from 13 points to three in 10 games and this is what we must do now.
“We have to make up eight points, we can do it but we need results and we have to do our basics right. We have to defend well, we have to come through difficult moments in games but we need 100% from everybody.
“We cannot win games at 80%, it is about hard work and 100% from everybody.”