Relegation threatened Sheffield Wednesday's Manager Alan Irvine has set his team a simple survival equation - just carry on doing things by halves.

Those were not Irvine's words, nor indeed will they have been his sentiments. But if the Owls continue to pick up points in the same 50:50 ratio that has been the case since Irvine took over at Hillsborough two months ago, they will certainly hit the former Preston North End Manager's safety target.

Wednesday have won half and lost the other half of the 12 Coca-Cola Championship matches they have so far contested under Irvine.

So, with 11 matches remaining to the end of the season, achieving the Manager's aim of five wins (okay, that's slightly less than half of 11) to take them on to 52 points will ensure they avoid relegation, says the boss.

"At the end of the day," said Irvine, "If we win five more games we will be fine. I keep on saying that it doesn't really matter what everyone else is doing.

"Not everybody (around us) can get to 53 or 54 points. So I'm not really too concerned about what's happening in the table.

"It would be freakish if everybody does get that number. It would mean that they (the points) have not got them higher up the League, so I'm simply focusing on us winning enough games - as I have done really since the day I got the job."

Following the day that Irvine got the job, winning enough games initially seemed to be well within Wednesday's capabilities as they clocked up four victories from their first five outings with the new man in charge.

But in the seven games since they have claimed just two victories, collecting only six points from the 21 available to slide back down into the relegation zone.

The nadir was reached at survival rivals Reading in their last game of February, when a 5-0 defeat - their heaviest loss of the season - left the Owls looking prime candidates for the drop into League 1.

But they bounced back with an excellent 2-0 win against promotion chasing Leicester City and, though that was followed by a 1-0 defeat at second in the table West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, Irvine believes the corner has been turned.

The Manager said: "Things are looking an awful lot better since we lost at Reading. Everyone knows how painful that experience was. We had to bounce back quickly and the lads deserve enormous credit for the way they've done that.

"It's been a great response, and that's the right way to go about your job - and if we go about our jobs as we did against West Bromwich Albion in every game between now and the end of the season, we'll be fine."

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