Sheffield Wednesday produced an efficient away performance yesterday to beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 and give Garry Monk the perfect start to life in-charge of the Hillsborough outfit.
Monk inherited a squad that had won three of the opening six games of the season, with Lee Bullen getting something extra out of a group that last featured in the play-offs in 2017.
Steven Fletcher scored his fourth goal of the season after just 10 minutes to open the scoring, with Sam Winnall doubling the advantage from the bench, when he glanced a Barry Bannan cross in on 72 minutes.
Post-match, Monk commented on the importance of his strikers scoring goals, with the build-up play for both extremely impressive.
Key to the second was a lovely cross from Bannan, who had dictated the game throughout and was rightly praised by many for his effort in captaining the Owls.
Here, in our latest FLW Spotlight, we look at Bannanâs performance at the John Smithâs Stadiumâ¦
Bannan completed 90 minutes in the midfield, with the Scotâs class evident right from the off.
The 29-year-old played 36 accurate passes throughout the game, giving him a pass success of 82% from the midfield.
In addition to that was one accurate cross, which was, of course, the assist to set up Winnallâs important goal.
Despite his stature against the likes of Trevoh Chalobah â who was impressive in his own way for Huddersfield â Bannan finished with a duel success of 54%, whilst also making six interceptions as Monkâs side soaked up any pressure and were rapid on the break.
This was classic Bannan, with the midfield central to everything that the Owls did well.
The fact that during his spell at Hillsborough heâs been a key member to any âsuccessfulâ side speaks volumes.
Even last season, there were 16 goal involvements as Wednesday stumbled their way through the season, and Monk will look to make that kind of influence count as his side battle for the top-six.
Bannan is one of the players that are part of the âold guardâ at Hillsborough and were part of the ânucleusâ Monk spoke about.
And, if he produces performances like this and brings the best out of that fresh blood added over the summer, Wednesday might be on to something special this season.