Skipper on St Mary's challenge - exclusive

Sturrock left Southampton after only 13 games in charge by mutual consent 18 months ago, despite having a decent record for the then-Premiership Saints.

The south coast club got relegated as the former Plymouth man took over at Hillsborough and got the Owls a stunning promotion from league one.

But with the injuries Wednesday currently have and the points the club are chasing, skipper Bullen knows victories are vital from the next two games.

He told Footymad: “It would be great (to get the win) for Paul for personal reasons but it’s the first of two very tough away games on paper. Obviously Southampton don’t need their troubles at the moment either and we could possibly catch them in the league but we need the points desperately.

“We have 34 points with 11 games remaining and we have to get points on the board. Lucky enough in the last two games we have maintained a five-point gap so the sooner we can get some wins behind us the better. We have two tough away games coming up with Southampton and then Cardiff and we have to be looking to get something out of both of them.”

Despite Wednesday’s precarious position just above the drop zone, Scotsman Bullen knows that the club have to look forward and not backwards.

He added: “Maybe if teams below us had picked up points in the last few games then we would be looking over our shoulders so like I said, we are lucky to have gotten away with the last few games and still had a five-point cushion. But realistically we are still looking above us in the table and we are being optimistic. Following a derby-day defeat, nobody’s really happy with that but we have to pick ourselves up and get down to Southampton to be positive.”

Deon Burton helped Wednesday’s cause by coming through training unscathed yesterday although Peter Gilbert, John Hills and Barry Corr are still doubtful.

Richard Wood should miss the next two games while The Owls will have the ineligible Yoann Folly and Leon Best back for the Cardiff game next week.