Laws had talked up his Owls team's chances at Pride Park on Saturday, but his players failed to justify his confidence as they crashed to a sixth away defeat.

Jewell admitted the Wednesday manager's pre-match comments had acted as a spur for his side, who are beginning to emerge as a force in the Championship.

He said: "Brian said he'd seen our last two home games and said they had a good chance to beat us. That fired us up a bit, and I thought we were by far the better side.

"It was a comprehensive 3-0 win, and it could have been five or six.

"But we are not getting too carried away, because we still need to improve the squad, but we've got a decent spirit, we are getting better, and we are moving in the right direction."

Derby are certainly unrecognisable from the team that was relegated in humiliating circumstances from the Premier League, and Jewell can look ahead with confidence as he approaches his first year in charge at Pride Park.

He added: "It seems like an awful lot has happened in the last year. When I came, we were staring at relegation, but the thing that keeps you going is the supporters, and the size of the club.

"The chairman has been great to me and stuck with me, and hopefully in the long run I can repay his faith."

For Wednesday, it was an altogether gloomier picture, as Laws kept his players in the dressing room for an hour at the end to pick over another dispiriting display on their travels.

He said: "I've been in there for an hour with the players because we seem to be psychologically a different team away from home.

"We are very resilient at home, and have only conceded a few goals, but away we have let in a bucketful.

"Psychologically we were not at the races, and that's why I was in there for an hour, because we've got to get this sorted - otherwise I'm going to be very grey by the end of the season!

"It certainly was not a witch hunt; it was a clear-the-air meeting. I had my say, and they had theirs, and I expect a reaction next week.

"We had a great chance to get in the top eight today, and we are coming away from Derby very disappointed in the manner in which we have lost."

Laws admitted that his team had "shot themselves in the foot" once again with midfielder Steve Watson striking a pass across the face of his own penalty area to present Kris Commons with his second Derby goal in the 31st minute.

The game was still in the balance, but in the 53rd minute Wednesday were again caught on the ball, and Commons sent Miles Addison in for his first goal for the club.

The result was sealed in the 67th minute when Paul Green sent Jordan Stewart driving forward, and the left-back was given the time and space to unleash a 22-yard shot that swerved into the top left corner for his first Derby goal.