Darren Moore tells Sheffield Wednesday: don't be caught cold by attack-minded Exeter City

The Owls make the 150-mile trip to St James' Park hopeful the pitch will withstand the weather having been covered since Wednesday and knowing they cannot afford to be caught cold themselves.

The newly-promoted Grecians, who lost manager Matt Tayor to Rotherham United in October, have scored 32 goals in their 20 League One matches this season, only three fewer than the Owls.

It all comes from a fearless mindset Moore has warned his players about.

"They've done really well this season, sitting mid-table," he said of the 11th-placed outfit. "They score a lot of goals.

"We know about their front three (Sam Nombe, Jay Stansfield and Josh Key) and how effective they are in transitions. They play a lot of exciting football.

"Gary (Caldwell)'s taken over there and slowly but surely he's putting his stamp on the team. They play some lovely patterns, some nice football and they're effective in the opposition box.

"We know as a team where we've been at in the last few months in terms of our resilience. We're going to have to be solid again to give us a platform.

"We expect it to be another exciting game.

"The crowd will be up and we'll take our large following of away-day support.

"To get promotion tells you last season they had a successful campaign so they're used to winning games. They take games to the opposition and don't hold back.

"Some of the so-called tip teams in the division, they gone at them, as well as what you'd call lesser teams.

"They have a real appetite to play attacking football."

Lee Gregory and Josh Windass have trained this week and are in contention but George Byers is still not comfortable in his body after a "minor" foot injury suffered in October.

"We've got to respect the decision of the player in terms of him wanting to be right to affect games," commented his manager. "He's not quite trusting himself at this moment in time."