‘Let’s finish on a high’ demands Monk of his Owls

GARRY MONK wants his Sheffield Wednesday players to be more “desperate” for victory tonight than a Middlesbrough side not yet safe from relegation.

Neither are the Owls, but in their case nothing will be decided on the field, only by an independent disciplinary commission which has heard the club and the Football League’s arguments about whether the former were guilty of misconduct in the way Hillsborough was sold and leased back to Wednesday’s owner Dejphon Chansiri.

It is not known when a verdict and/or punishment will be handed down, but there is the potential for a penalty of up to 21 points and they are eight above the relegation zone going into tonight’s final game, effectively nine with their goal difference.

Monk’s focus is on ensuring they end the season properly.

“We want to finish with the points,” he said of tonight’s game at Hillsborough. “Nothing less than three points will do for us.

“We have to make sure that we’re more desperate for those points and our attitude is stronger than Middlesbrough’s. As much as they are going to battle for it, we need to make sure we do it stronger.

“It won’t make amends for the run we’ve been on in the second half of the season but we want the three points for the fans, for ourselves. I won’t accept anything less from them.”

The former Middlesbrough manager has seen his current side’s form nosedive since Christmas, and has been annoyed by their inability to consistently do the fundamentals correctly. Saturday’s 5-3 defeat at promotion-chasing Fulham was a case in point.

“It’s frustrating because had we done the basics right, like we did in the previous two games, we’d have got a result because it was otherwise a good performance against tough opposition,” he reflected.

“We know our team can make chances, we can score goals but we cannot defend how we’ve defended in the second half of this season.

“Away from home we are top of the league in terms of goals scored, but you can’t score that many to only compound it with mistakes at the other end.”

Monk is hopeful midfielder Kieran Lee will be fit having returned to training too late last week to be ready for Craven Cottage. He is one of a number of senior players out of contract this summer.