Danny Wilson has pledged not to give his Sheffield Wednesday side "a minute's piece" as they bid to overcome a dreadful first half of the Premiership season.

The Owls entertain City tomorrow knowing that a victory is paramount if they are to have any chance of overhauling Paul Jewell's men in the table.

Wednesday have won just two of their 20 league games this term and are eight points behind third-bottom City in the league table.

However performances have improved in recent weeks with the Owls winning a creditable point in their last outing at Hillsborough with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal.

And Wilson is determined that his side will continue the form they showed in the second half against the Gunners when City travel to Wednesday tomorrow.

He said: "Performances like that in the second period against Arsenal are what we are going to have to maintain if we are to get out of our situation.

"That is the standard I know they can achieve and I expect them to play like that between now and the end of the season if we are to survive.

"The way to do it is to keep badgering away at them. If there's one thing I won't let them do it is rest. I will keep at them all the time. I won't let them have a minute's peace.

"I've got to do it because these are world class players we're coming up against. You can't stand off them and let them do what they want to do."

Wednesday have suffered a troubled season both on and off the field and are believed to be about £18 million in debt.

In the early part of the season, Wednesday suffered with behind-the-scenes problems involving striker Benito Carbone. The Italian was in superb form when City earned a late draw at home to Wednesday in mid-August but eventually moved to Aston Villa after a number of bust-ups.

That means that in the last nine months have sold three of their most high-profile stars - Paolo di Canio, Carbone and Emerson Thome - for less than £5 million, moves which have incensed the Wednesday faithful.

Wednesday fans have also had to face the possibility of the two Sheffield clubs being merged and the Independent Supporters Association have questioned the role being played by venture capitalists Charterhouse, who own 36 per cent of the shares in the club.

Wednesdayites are vehemently opposed to any talk of a merger even though Sheffield football is at a low ebb with the Owls bottom of the Premiership and only a recent mini-revival keeping United out of the relegation places in Division One.

Not surprisingly, crowds have gone down at Hillsborough as if the fans are almost resigned to the club's fate. Of the 18,506 crowd who saw Wednesday draw 1-1 with Wolves in the FA Cup fourth round last Saturday about 7,000 were visiting supporters which is a disturbing statistic for a club who need 25,000 to break even. That figure has been exceeded only twice this season.

Wenesday have several injury problems for tomorrow's match. Andy Booth, Gilles De Bilde, Mark McKeever, Lee Briscoe, Ian Nolan and DesWalker are all under treatment.

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