Town defender Darnell Furlong insisted there will be no complacency in preparation ahead of Saturday’s match against Sheffield Wednesday at Portman Road.

This weekend’s visitors have endured a brutal season to date amid ownership and financial problems, with the Owls a staggering 29 points from safety and rooted to the bottom of the Championship having been deducted 18 points.

Wednesday’s difficulty has continued on the pitch with just one league victory all season, and they head to Suffolk currently on a run of 14 matches without a win.

Seven of their nine earned points this season have come away from home, though, and Furlong says the Owls are capable of causing problems to any side in the division.

“Exactly the same approach,” he said. “We’ll prepare exactly the same, have the same meetings, the same training sessions on what we’re going to work on and what we’re going to do.

“We respect them the same and watch the same amount of clips. We’re just looking forward to getting back out there after the loss and hopefully a positive result.

“It’s not what you want to see in general what’s been happening there. It seems like they’re almost out of a bit of trouble and moving in the right direction.

“It’s all about what’s going to happen on the pitch for us now, we don’t take any of that into account. It’s just prepare right and go and try and get three points.

“Anyone can beat anyone on the day, which is why we take the caution we’re taking with tomorrow’s game. It’s something that happens.

“We enjoyed the start of the week, the two games before were brilliant performances and brilliant results. Unlucky not to get nine points that week but it happens.

“We know how good every team in the league is. It’s definitely not a surprise, some great players there that I’ve played against a lot before and some that I know personally. It’s another big challenge for us to go into the weekend.”

One of Wednesday’s more familiar faces is midfielder and club captain Barry Bannan, who has played more than 450 times for the Owls in more than a decade at Hillsborough.

“Brilliant player, great quality, someone to be very aware of and very cautious about,” Furlong said of the Scotsman.

“All over the Championship, every team, every week there’s a player or a few players that are capable of what he’s capable of. It’s a case of it being a normal game and a normal opponent and we’ll be respecting them as usual.”

Town will look to get back to winning ways after last weekend’s disappointing 3-1 defeat at Leicester City, which saw the Blues fail to make it a third straight victory for the first time this season.

On the best way to respond, Furlong said: “Simply forgetting about it. We’ve taken the lessons, what we didn’t do too well and the things we can correct. Other than that, it’s full focus ahead of the next game.”

Defeat at the King Power Stadium brought an end to a busy and congested run of matches where Town played seven fixtures in just 22 days.

Another similar run is about to start as the Championship prepares for its usual Christmas and New Year schedule where teams are required to play four times in 10 days.

As a result, Furlong was relieved to have had a whole week of recovery without a midweek match ahead of Sheffield Wednesday’s.

He said: “It has to come at some point, the games have been coming Saturday-Tuesday-Friday, games like that are always difficult with the schedule. We’re back into it now and I can’t wait to get going.

“It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of travelling, training, preparation and recovery, but it’s what we love doing. Games are the pinnacle of what we love to do, it’s nice to have lots of them.

“We’ve got great staff here that prepare us and recover us after games which is brilliant and it is a massive help.

“Everyone looks at the footballers and wonders what they’re doing to recover, but the staff are the ones that are really looking after us and doing a great job. We’re thankful for that and we’re in the best position possible as a squad to move forward.”

Furlong is one of the most experienced players in the Blues squad at Championship level, with the right-back playing 281 matches in the second tier for three different clubs.

With the likes of Azor Matusiwa, Iván Azón and Sindre Walle Egeli new to English football, the 30-year-old says he tries to use his experience to his advantage, while also highlighting the impact of veteran Ashley Young.

“We always try to,” Furlong said. “There’s a lot of lads in the dressing room that can try and do the same thing and get around the young lads. That’s part of us being a great group, being all together and helping each other out.

“It’s great to have a name like Ash in the squad to learn from and take little bits of his game from. It’s a pleasure to play with him and share the dressing room and I look forward to the future.”

Photo: TWTD