Sheffield Wednesday head to Meadow Lane on Tuesday night (7.45pm) with the 5-0 thrashing of AFC Wimbledon still ringing around Hillsborough and a clear chance to show it was the start of something rather than a one-off.
Notts County are the opponents in the second of five League One games in fifteen days. When we looked at this run last week, we described the trip to Nottingham as a must-win on current form. Nothing that happened on Saturday has changed that.
Wednesday sit sixth with 18 points from nine games, two points off the top with a game in hand on every side above them. Notts are 23rd with seven points from nine, have lost four league games in a row and have scored once in their last four.
On paper, it is as clear a chance as Wednesday will get. The challenge is to treat it that way.
The response Pedersen needed
Saturday was exactly what Henrik Pedersen and his side needed.
The build-up had been dominated by questions. A 2-2 draw at Huddersfield had been a point rather than a performance, and back-to-back goalless home draws against Wigan and Stockport had left the attack looking blunt at Hillsborough.
Wimbledon got the full force of the response. Wednesday scored three times in seven minutes at the end of the first half, with Barry Bannan and Davis Keillor-Dunn a minute apart before Harry Gray added a third on the stroke of half-time, and Callum Slattery and Keillor-Dunn again completed the scoring after the interval.
Wednesday had 25 shots, 11 on target, and allowed Wimbledon nothing on target at all. It was a fourth successive home clean sheet in all competitions and extended the unbeaten run to nine. It also lifted Wednesday back into the play-off places, two points off top spot Bradford City.
Pedersen was pleased, but his message afterwards was a measured one. He felt his side spent a spell chasing the ball before the goals came and stressed that defensive concentration matters most because Wednesday will not score five every week.
That is the right note to strike heading into Tuesday. One big win does not settle the debate around this team. A run of convincing wins would go a long way towards it.
Keillor-Dunn's breakthrough
The standout performance on Saturday came from Davis Keillor-Dunn.
Kept out of the starting line-up at Huddersfield by a back problem, the Wrexham loanee made an impact off the bench there and returned in his preferred No.10 role on Saturday. He was involved in three of the five goals, setting up Bannan for the opener before scoring twice to take his tally to three goals in six appearances for the club.
The first of those, pouncing on a Wimbledon error and racing clear from halfway before finishing calmly, showed exactly what Wednesday have been missing in those frustrating home draws: someone willing to carry the ball forward and take responsibility in the final third.
Pedersen was just as pleased with what Keillor-Dunn did without the ball, praising how hard he now works defensively.
He has now scored 15 goals in his last 29 League One appearances for Wednesday and Barnsley combined. With Louie Barry still out, the role Keillor-Dunn played on Saturday could be an important one over the coming weeks.
Wednesday team news
The biggest change on Saturday came in goal.
Joe Lumley picked up a rib injury late on at Huddersfield and Pedersen expects him to be out for two to three weeks. Ashley Maynard-Brewer made his first league start in his place and, although he had a quiet afternoon, he looked composed and Pedersen praised his work both defensively and with the ball. He is expected to keep his place at Meadow Lane.
There was better news elsewhere. Max Lowe and Ali Al-Hamadi both returned from the bench on Saturday, and Pedersen said it was the first week in which he had enough players back to play 11 v 11 in training at match intensity.
Lowe had missed eight games with a hamstring injury. He replaced Di'Shon Bernard with just over 15 minutes to go and slotted in at left-sided centre-back alongside Gabriel Otegbayo, rather than in his usual left-back role.
That gives Pedersen a decision to make. Reece James has started seven league games in a row at left-back and has been one of Wednesday's most dependable performers, adding his first assist of the season with the cross for Slattery's goal. Pedersen described having both available as "a good challenge for the manager" and said it was fantastic to have Lowe back.
Liam Cooper was taken off after the hour on Saturday, a week after needing treatment for a cut to the head suffered while winning the late penalty at Huddersfield.
Ricardo Santos has missed the last two games with a groin problem picked up in the EFL Trophy and was still working in the gym rather than on the pitch at the end of last week. Sil Swinkels has stepped up his training and is improving, but Tuesday may come too soon. Louie Barry is running and making good progress, and Jordi Liongola is back on the grass, but neither is ready yet. Tyler Onyango remains a long-term absentee.
All six of Wednesday's loan players are now fit, so one has to miss out on the matchday squad each week, which adds another layer to Pedersen's selection.
With Wednesday back in action on Saturday at Doncaster, some rotation would not be a surprise. Jamal Lowe, Bannan and Cooper were all withdrawn on Saturday, while Billy Mitchell, Kieran Morrison and Al-Hamadi are pushing for starts.
Notts County struggling since promotion
Notts County won promotion from League Two through the play-offs last season, edging past Chesterfield in the semi-finals before beating Salford City at Wembley. Life back in League One has been much more difficult.
It started well enough. Martin Paterson's side drew with Leicester City on the opening day, drew at Luton, beat Burton Albion and then picked up further draws at Doncaster and Huddersfield. Five games in, they were unbeaten.
They have not won a league game since.
A 1-0 home defeat to Bradford City was followed by a 2-0 loss at Reading, a 2-1 home defeat to Oxford United and a 2-0 defeat at Wycombe on Saturday. Their only goal in those four games was a stoppage-time consolation against Oxford.
At Adams Park, Notts were second best for long periods. Jack Grimmer's deflected effort gave Wycombe the lead just before half-time and Fred Onyedinma headed in a late second from a corner, with James Belshaw making several saves to keep the score down. Notts managed four shots all afternoon and none of them were on target.
Paterson was frank afterwards. He admitted the jump in level had left his side struggling, said they had looked disjointed and that he could not accept players not challenging for loose balls. "At the moment, we're not good enough," he said, although he felt there was a 20-minute spell in which his side should have scored.
There was at least a confidence boost in midweek, when Notts beat Nottingham Forest Under-21s 5-1 in the EFL Trophy. But league goals have been hard to come by. They have had games against Blackpool and Peterborough postponed, so they have played fewer matches than most, yet eight goals from nine league games tells its own story. Only two sides in the division have scored fewer.
Notts sit 23rd, level on seven points with bottom club Wigan and a point behind Blackpool, Barnsley and Bromley.
Notts County team news and players to watch
Paterson's problems have been made worse by injuries.
Matty Platt, Lewis Macari, Dean Campbell and Emile Acquah are all out, and loan striker Ollie Cooper has missed the last two games. The Swansea forward is Notts' top league scorer with three goals, so his absence has been felt. Luka Smyth, who scored twice in the win over Burton, was also missing from the squad at Wycombe and is a doubt.
That leaves Notts short of goals at exactly the wrong time.
Callum Roberts is the player Wednesday will need to watch most closely. The summer arrival from Scunthorpe has been one of the brighter spots in a difficult start and has scored in both the league and the Carabao Cup.
Rory Finneran, on loan from Newcastle, scored the late goal against Oxford and started in midfield at Wycombe. Charlton loanee Daniel Kanu came off the bench on the hour there and looked Notts' most likely source of a goal, so he could start on Tuesday.
Belshaw is an experienced goalkeeper at this level and was busy at Wycombe. If Wednesday create the volume of chances they did on Saturday, he is likely to be busy again.
Notts lined up at Wycombe with a back three of Lucas Ness, Rod McDonald and Jacob Bedeau, with James Gibbons and Nick Tsaroulla as wing-backs. Paterson's own verdict was that his side looked disjointed, and that could suit Wednesday. Against Wimbledon, the Owls did their best work when they moved the ball forward quickly and attacked the space behind and between defenders, and a side low on confidence may leave more of that space than Wimbledon did.
A test of Wednesday's away form
If Wednesday's home form has drawn the criticism this season, their away form has been the opposite.
Pedersen's side are unbeaten on the road in the league, winning three and drawing one of their four away games. They have scored 20 league goals overall, among the highest totals in the division, and conceded only eight.
That away record will need to continue with two trips in five days, to Meadow Lane on Tuesday and Doncaster on Saturday.
The Huddersfield draw is the one away performance that stands out for the wrong reasons. Pedersen said afterwards that his side had worked on playing forward but only did it once they were 2-0 down. On Saturday against Wimbledon, they did it from much earlier in the game.
Repeating that from the first whistle at Meadow Lane is the clearest route to three points.
Recent meetings
The clubs have not met in a competitive fixture for more than a decade, and Wednesday have won each of the last three meetings.
The most recent came in the League Cup first round in August 2014, when Wednesday won 3-0 at Hillsborough.
Before that, the sides met in League One during the 2011-12 season. Wednesday won 2-1 at Hillsborough in August 2011 and won by the same scoreline at Meadow Lane in March 2012 on their way to promotion.
Across those three games, Wednesday scored seven goals and conceded two.
That 2012 win was also Wednesday's last visit to Meadow Lane, so Tuesday ends a 14-year wait. With a short trip and an allocation of 2,249, there will be a big away following.
Five games, fifteen days
Tuesday's game is the second in a run that will say a lot about where Wednesday's season is heading.
Before Saturday, we set ten points from the five games as a fair target, with twelve or more representing top-two form. Three points from the Wimbledon game was the ideal start. Another three at Meadow Lane would leave Wednesday on course to meet that target with three games still to play.
The remaining fixtures are kind. Doncaster are 17th and Blackpool 20th, while Cambridge, at Hillsborough next Tuesday, are the only top-ten side, sitting fifth and a point above Wednesday. Points dropped against the bottom sides will be harder to make up than points dropped against promotion rivals.
The verdict
On form, Wednesday go into this one as favourites, but form alone guarantees nothing.
Notts County are low on confidence, short on goals and missing several important players. Wednesday arrive in form, with key players returning from injury and with a performance behind them that showed what this squad can do when it plays with intent.
The danger is complacency, and a midweek trip to a side desperate to stop a losing run can be uncomfortable if the early chances go begging. Notts did improve late on at Wycombe once they raised their intensity, and the home crowd will want an early response from their team.
But if Wednesday bring the same speed and willingness to play forward that they showed in the closing stages of the first half against Wimbledon, they have the quality to make it two wins from two in this run.
Pedersen has said that the team cannot expect to score five every week. Nobody is asking for five. Three points and another convincing performance would do nicely.
Sources: The Star (George Smith, Alex Miller, Liam Norcliffe), Notts County FC, PA Media, BBC Sport.
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