Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough has backed Sheffield Wednesday to be fighting for promotion this season, as per a recent interview that he gave to The Star.

The Owls have started their first campaign back in Sky Bet League One in strong fashion, with Darren Moore having seen his side pick up three wins out of their four games in the competition so far, all without conceding a goal as they have remained unbeaten up to this point.

It underlines many people's predictions that they would be up there fighting for a chance to get promoted at the first attempt, with Moore being all too aware of the task which lays ahead of him following their relegation last term.

Now Baraclough has had his say on the club's promotion credentials as he made the following comments on their form so far, with his keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell currently plying his trade at Hillsborough:

"To have players playing at any level is massive but Bailey needed to move away from Burnley at this moment in time to find first team football and he’s done that with a great club in Sheffield Wednesday.

"I expect them to be fighting for those promotion places in League One so hopefully he’s gone to a club on the up."

Peacock-Farrell has already impressed many since he moved to the Steel City and recently made a match defining penalty save in the win over Rotherham United.

The Northern Ireland keeper will now be looking towards the weekend as the Owls prepare to take on Morecambe at the Mazuma Stadium.

The Verdict 

Wednesday have started the season in exactly the sort of fashion that both Moore and the club hierarchy will have expected and the pressure will now be on to maintain their form over the coming months.

The main test for them will be when they suffer their first defeat as it will be interesting to see how quickly they bounce back from a setback of that nature.

Their recruitment has been spot on so far and the signing of Lee Gregory will certainly help to take them in the right direction if he continues to score on a regular basis.

They have overcome all off their tests well with flying colours so far and now the challenge is to see if they can continue to maintain those high standards.