Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Barry Bannan has admitted that striker Lucas Joao could be playing at a higher level, if he showed his quality every week.

The Owls kept their extremely slim chances of making the play-offs alive with a 2-0 victory over fellow top-six hopefuls Bristol City at Hillsborough on Monday afternoon.

Bannan opened the scoring for Wednesday with a stunning 30-yard strike, before setting up Joao with a sublime crossfield pass, for the Portuguese striker to lob the ball over Robins' goalkeeper Max O'Leary.

The victory leaves Sheffield Wednesday ninth in the Championship table, four points off the play-offs with just two matches to go, although eighth-placed Bristol City and sixth-placed Derby County both have a game in hand.

After the match of Hillsborough, Bannan spoke very highly of his teammate Joao and admitted he would be playing at a higher level if they could showcase his quality on a regular basis.

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"It was a brilliant finish from Lucas for his goal. We see moments like that in training. He is a very, very good player. He can do anything on his day. He is a handful," Bannan told the Sheffield Star.

"He put himself about on Monday and worked really hard. He was out for a little while but he put in a good shift and I am glad he got his goal.

"He is frustrating. He can be anything. If he could do what he shows in training consistently, he probably would not be here. He would be somewhere bigger and better. He is an unbelievable talent and he is still young as well.

"With the manager coming in and working with him, I think it will really benefit him next season."

Joao has scored ten goals in 29 Championship appearances for Sheffield Wednesday this season and is the Owls' second-top scorer behind Steven Fletcher.

The striker has scored 28 goals since joining the Owls from Portuguese side Nacional in 2015 and recently signed a contract extension to keep him at Hillsborough until 2021.

The Verdict:

It is nice to see Bannan praise his teammate and he is probably right.

Joao has shown glimpses of his best quality this season and scored an outstanding goal against Bristol City on Easter Monday, but he has to produce these kind of performances on a more consistent basis.

There is still plenty of time for the striker to improve and hopefully he will use this message from Bannan as motivation to work harder.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.