Darren Moore tells his Sheffield Wednesday side to focus on their own strengths rather than worry about Peterborough United's ahead of play-off clash

Certain key stats are in Wednesday’s favour, such as the fact they amassed 96 points, compared to Posh’s 77.

They also scored 81 goals compared to Posh’s 75 and conceded 37, 17 less than Posh’s 54 but Posh have picked up 42 points since Darren Ferguson’s return to the club; Wednesday have picked up 41 in the same time in an extra match.

Posh also boast the league’s joint-top goalscorer in Jonson Clarke-Harris with 26 goals.

That leaves the match relatively evenly poised going into the semi-final but Darren Moore has been stressing to the side the importance of focusing on their strengths rather than getting drawn into worrying about Posh’s.

Moore said: “This is the play-offs and that brings excitement with it. We’ve made sure we keep focused on our development as a team and we know that going to Peterborough is a tough game but we’ve had 46 tough games in the league so far and this will be no different.

“They’re dangerous, every team is dangerous. I believe they’ve got the leading goal scorer in the league and they’ve shown a strong approach to get into the play-offs. We know their dangers but we will focus on our own.

“You have to compare the stats we’ve done and what they’ve done, if they’re a dangerous team then what does that make us? When you start looking at what others have done, that’s when you lose your focus. We’ve been focusing on us.

"They’ve had a great season to get into the play-offs. They’ve shown consistency and they’ve been persistent with their work since Darren has taken over. He’s given them a level base and a platform to progress, which they’ve done nicely throughout the season.

They deservedly got to the play-offs. Credit to Darren and his team for the work they’ve done over the course of the season, the league table doesn’t lie.

“I imagine they will see reaching the play-offs as achieving their goal at the start of the season. We have to remember they’ve come down from the Championship.”

Darren Moore’s men fell short in last season’s play-off semi-final, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Sunderland after a 1-0 away defeat in the second leg.

Wednesday were beaten 2-0 at London Road in August. Jonson Clarke-Harris and Jack Taylor scored the goals in the second half after Reece James was sent off in the 34th minute.

Moore, however, doesn’t think that result will have any bearing on Friday’s game, he added: “They’re under different management now and the course of that game changed on the sending-off. In the second half, they made the extra man count so it’s difficult to predict off that and it was very early in the season.

"Both teams have come a long, long, way since then so we don’t see that game as having any significance.”

Sheffield Wednesday finished the regular season with the second-best away record, taking 42 points in 23 games- a tally bettered only by runners-up Ipswich (44).