Sheffield Wednesday take on Hartlepool in the Northern Area Quarter Finals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at Hillsborough this evening.
The Owls, having suffered back to back defeats in the league. will be looking to build on Sunday’s F.A. Cup win at Southport and although this competition may not be the priority, winning breeds confidence and they will be looking to progress to the semi-finals and take some momentum into their forthcoming league fixtures.
Wednesday are unlikely to risk the fitness of Jermaine Johnson. The winger picked up an injury in his first start of the season against Huddersfield last week and is not expected to feature. Other than that boss Alan Irvine has a fully fit squad to pick from and may continue to pair Neil Mellor and Clinton Morrison in attack following their success together at the weekend. Lewis Buxton and Daniel Jones are defensive options whilst Sedgwick and Potter could feature in midfield should Irvine choose to rest players ahead of Saturday's League One fixture against Rochdale. Finding a balance between gaining momentum and form as well as ensuring the best eleven are available for the league games is key in this competition but having progressed this far the Owls will certainly be looking for a semi-final spot.
Hartlepool may be without key front pair James Brown as Adam Boyd with both recovering from injuries. Fellow front men Denis Behan and Colin Larkin are also set to be sidelined for this fixture leaving the North-East club, who have struggled for goals this season, short of options in attack.
Pools captain, former Sheffield Wednesday player, Ritchie Humphreys is certain to miss the clash after having an appeal over a red-card at the weekend rejected. He therefore starts a 3-match suspension this evening.
The two sides have already met in League One this season with the Owls hammering Pools 5-0 at the Victoria Ground back in August. Wednesday's 5-2 win at Southport in the F.A. Cup came on the back of two league defeats though prior to that they had not lost in six games.
Hartlepool struggled to a 0-0 draw at home to Vauxhall Motors on Saturday and have also drawn their last two league matches. They have not yet played an away cup fixture this season and have picked up two wins from seven in the league on the road. In those seven away games they have scored four goals and conceded just three.
History favours the home side as Hartlepool have never beaten Wednesday away and have only won one of ten fixtures between the two teams in all competitions.