Owls boss Dave Jones spoke to his club's official website and the Sheffield Star ahead of Wednesday's League One match against Carlisle at Hillsborough, Jones hoping the Owls don't get knocked off their perch :
“When you are a big club in a division where everybody you play looks on you as a scalp, every game you play is a big game. You have to be at your best because teams are always looking to knock you off your perch, and Carlisle are a decent footballing side. We have seen them on TV, watched a couple of DVD’s we’ve got, and spoken to the people who have watched them play for us. Like anybody in this division, they’re a match for anyone on their day.
“If you have to lift players before play-offs, which are a life-changing situation, then there’s a problem. Nobody should worry about players being lifted because, one, it’s a possible opportunity to play at Wembley, and, two, an opportunity to get out of this division. It’s about being mentally and physically right, and the approach has to be spot on. If those players need to be lifted or told it’s a big game, they shouldn’t be here, really. They should know. All we do is to try to add to it, keep it calm and keep it focused.
“We have still trained this week, but most of your work now, probably since Christmas, you would say was on recovery because of the amount of games that you have played. So, we haven’t changed anything, we have had the rest, we have trained hard, we were off on Wednesday and then back in on Thursday. I don’t think we look tired, I think after the two games in three days of course they were tired, but they haven’t shown any signs of that when they have had their proper recovery and their few days rest.
“I think it is important and shows that we are doing something right within the football club if players want to stay, I think Mark Beevers, Stephen Bywater and Jermaine Johnson have said it and they are people who are out of contract. So, of course it is good, and it shows that they must be enjoying working at the football club.
“Nile Ranger has done well, it is always difficult and also at this stage of the season when you are bringing players in they have not played regular first team football, otherwise you wouldn’t be getting them. So, him and Keith (Treacy) have been getting up to speed and they are basically there now and certainly in Nile’s case, again two games over three days, he has not done that for some time."
“So, he will have his dips because he hasn’t got that battle-wareness that you need. When you have been playing all season you become battle hardened and they are only starting, I think Keith in the small time that he has been on the pitch, his contribution has been tremendous. I don’t think you can say that they haven’t done anything that we didn’t expect of them to be fair.
"You can't have all the same type of players at your club; you need variety. We probably missed Treace on Saturday to a fair degree. We had a lot of the ball. When things aren't coming off for one or two players, you always need to be able to put on people who can change it, as Keith did when he went on against Oldham. You have to have a squad who are all up for it and give you different options.
“I think this could be a defining weekend depending on how the results go, but if both us and United win it is not going to be decided and then it will go to the last two games. But, it will play a big part in the majority of the divisions at the moment because of the lack of games there is left. I think most teams now, Sheffield United have to win, the only team that probably doesn’t is Charlton.
“So, everybody else has to win, you are in a win situation at this stage of the season, after we have played these who need to win then we go to Brentford and we will probably have exactly the same, and then when we play Wycombe it will be the same, because, if Wycombe get their points on then they have got a chance of staying in this division. It adds that edge and I personally would rather have it that way, playing teams that have got something to fight for
“So, every game we play is a must-win situation for us and we will be at it full pelt, but I would say that in every game we do play to be fair. If it’s got to be the play-offs route, then we’ll go that way. If you look back 10 or 11 games you were probably talking of losing out because of the games that were lost. Now we’ve been in with a shout but we have to rely on them faltering; that’s what it’s been like since the day I walked in.”