Bannan leaps to defence of mis-firing Reach

CONDUCT an online video search for goals from Adam Reach and you will struggle to find a bad one.

The Sheffield Wednesday midfielder has made a habit of scoring spectacular long-range goals such as last season’s 40-yard volley at Aston Villa and the looping strike from distance against Leeds United at Hillsborough testify.

The 26-year-old, who joined the Owls from Middlesbrough for £5m in 2016, scored nine goals last term. Seven came before Christmas, but fast-forward 12 months and Reach has struggled to find the net.

His solitary goal this season came in the 4-1 win at Boro in September, and you have to go back to February 23 for Reach’s last goal at Hillsborough.

Reach remains a regular creator and full of unselfish running and work-rate but Owls manager Garry Monk dropped him to the bench in a 2-2 draw with Swansea.

There are several mitigating factors for his failure to replicate last season’s goals return such as the majority of them coming under former chief Joss Luhukay, who employed a different style of play which offered Reach more licence to go forward.

Owls midfielder Barry Bannan has jumped to his defence. “I think he gets a lot of bad criticism,” said the Scottish international. “A lot of people forget you are not going to be 100 per cent every game, and scoring.

“Adam scored a lot of unbelievable goals last season, which most players wouldn’t be able to do.

“He’s not going to be like that every game, or he wouldn’t be here, he would be somewhere else. A lot of people forget about his work rate and what he does off the ball. He is a wise head, has a lot of experience.

“He gets bad press, but that’s probably because he was scoring all these ‘worldie’ goals last season. There’s not many players capable of scoring all those goals he scored. We appreciate him as a team-mate, and in the changing room.”

Reach came off the bench against Swansea with 14 minutes remaining, and helped turn a 1-0 goal deficit into a 2-1 lead, before a stoppage-time equaliser denied Wednesday maximum points.

Bannan added: “The gaffer wanted a change, but when Adam came on he had an assist in the first goal, and made an impact on the game. That will be good for his confidence.”