Irvine: Hard work ahead for Owls

30 May 2010 21:37
Sheffield Wednesday manager Alan Irvine has warned his side they must put in the hard graft if they are to bounce straight back to the Championship. The Owls were relegated to League One on the final day of the season after only managing a draw at home to relegation rivals Crystal Palace and now face a tough task in English football`s third tier. In preparation Wednesday have laid out a difficult pre-season fixture list which concludes with four successive away games against Grimsby (17th July), Darlington (20th July), Scunthorpe (24th July) and Barnsley (27th July). Irvine believes these matches are just the kind that his side need to hit the ground running. He told the club`s official website: "Those four teams will give us very good games at the right time before the new season starts. We have to be in the best possible shape for our first game in August and this schedule will help us do that. "We will face a long, hard season and, of course we want to be right up there from the start. But it`s not a forgone conclusion that we will bounce back straight away. The only way that will happen is through the right preparation and hard work and that is exactly what we will do."

Source: PA