Gary Rowett’s response, when asked whether Leicester City’s failure to beat Sheffield Wednesday was a significantly damaging result in their relegation battle, left many fans in disbelief.

Gary Rowett insisted Leicester City’s failure to beat Sheffield Wednesday was not a decisive setback in their fight against relegation, offering a view that will jar with many supporters.

Asked whether the result felt damaging, he said: “Not really.”

For fans, however, this was a fixture that demanded three points. Wednesday, despite showing resilience, had lost 16 of their previous 17 matches and are enduring one of the poorest campaigns in English football history. City, by contrast, are among the division’s most expensively assembled squads and are battling for their status.

Rowett’s argument centred on the table remaining unchanged, with fellow strugglers also drawing. “Had we won here, it’s not as though we’re then safe,” he said. “It would be a psychological boost and we’d be a point outside the relegation zone. There’s a psychology to that.

“But we’re not in any worse position, it’s just another game gone where we’ve not taken our opportunities.”

Even so, six points from five favourable fixtures has left City needing results elsewhere. Doubts linger over their resilience, though Rowett disputes claims of a lack of commitment.

“I see a team that cares,” he said. “What we need to do, if we’re a team with lots of quality but perhaps less fight, then we need to show that quality.”