Akpo Sodje will battle through the pain barrier as Sheffield Wednesday travel to Pride Park to face Derby in Sunday's FA Cup third-round tie.The Owls hope to make it third time lucky against top-flight opposition after falling at the first hurdle to Manchester City and Charlton in the previous two seasons.

Sodje, the club's top scorer with six goals this season, damaged ankle ligaments at Southampton early last month and sat out the following three matches before a surprise return at Hull last Saturday.

"I'm finding it hard. It's quite sore, but I'm just playing through the pain and hoping for the best," he said.

"It's something I've just had to do. We've had strikers out injured worse than me.

"I tore a ligament and it was badly bruised as well. It wasn't the same ligament I've injured before, but pounding on the ankle isn't doing it any good. Ideally I should be resting for another month."

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