Key events
3 min: On the touchline, Darren Moore drinks thirstily from a water-bottle as his team take a throw-in halfway inside their own half. No chances to report on so far.
2 min: Another free-kick for Barnsley, for a foul on Herbie Kane by Wednesday midfielder Liam Palmer. It’s quite the physical battle already.
Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday is go …
1 min: Sheffield Wednesday get the ball wrong on a beautiful day at Wembley and play it straight back to goalkeeper Cameron Dawson, who lumps it forward. Michael Smith leads with his arm in a challenge on Mads Andersen and concedes a free-kick to Barnsley. He avoids a yellow card and is perhaps lucky to do so.
Not long now: Led by their managers, both sets of players walk out on to the Wembley sward, the players of Barnsley in red shirts, their opponents in blue and white stripes. The last of the pre-match formalities are under way and kick-off is just a national anthem, a few handshakes, a coin-toss, a few more handshakes and a shrill blast of referee Tim Robinson’s whistle away.
Michael Duff: The youngest side in the Championship goes up against the oldest today and Barnsley’s Tykes are living up to their nickname with an average of 24 compared to Wednesday’s 29. Michael Duff doesn’t think his team’s comparative inexperience will stand against them today.
“They’ll have 1,000s more games than us and that might help them, it might not,” he said in an interveiw with BBC Radio Sheffield. “Our youth and naivety might help us. I’m not concerned about anyone freezing. It might happen but it could happen with older players as well. It’s a one-off occasion and whoever can handle it best.
“We talk about youthfulness, intensity and quality. That’s the strapline we’ve used for this team all season. If we can bring all three to the party on Monday then we have got a good chance.”
Darren Moore: Dubbed “so special” by Pep Guardiola in the wake of their team’s unbelievable semi-final comeback from four goals down, Sheffield Wednesday fans are expected to outnumber their Barnsley counterparts by two to one at today’s Wembley showdown. ““It’s nice,” Moore told the Sheffield Star.
“I want the club to get those accolades and the words about the supporters. We know nationally the game reached so many people nationally because of the excitement the game brought. Internally we were just managing the game but externally it hit all sorts of communities and people that in the modern world of social media and so on, have a platform. When they speak, a lot of people listen, so it’s great to hear some of the views expressed towards the football club on that night. It was a special moment for us as a football club.”
In the immediate aftermath of the mother of all comebacks against Peterborough, Moore told his players to enjoy their evening but was quick to remind them that there’s more work to do. We shall find out this evening if this storied club’s players have it in them to put their collective shoulder to the wheel for one last effort against their comparatively impoverished rivals. Sheffield Wednesday skipper Barry Bannan earns £21,000 per week, while the average wage of Barnsley’s players is seven times less.
Match preview: “The 80th iteration of this South Yorkshire derby will contain more spice than any of its predecessors and it is a reminder, too, of the sky high standards set in this season’s third tier,” writes Nick Ames.
Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday line-ups
Barnsley: Isted, Bobby Thomas, Andersen, Kitching, Williams, Phillips, Connell, Kane, Cadden, Tedic, Cole..
Subs: Collins, Russell, Norwood, Benson, L Thomas, Cundy, Watters.
Sheffield Wednesday: Dawson, Iorfa, Ihiekwe, James, Paterson, Palmer, Bannan, Johnson, Windass, Smith, Gregory.
Subs: Stockdale, Brown, Vaulks, Adeniran, Dele-Bashiru, Hunt, Flint.
Today’s match officials
Early team news
Barnsley manager Michael Duff has a fully fit squad to choose from and may well opt for the same team that edged past Bolton Wanderers by the only goal of the game in the semi-final second leg at Oakwell. A 32-year-old veteran in a team whose average age is under 25, striker James Norwood was on the bench for both legs of the semi-final and will almost certainly be among the substitutes today with Devante Cole and Slobodan Tedic expected to start up front.
Darren Moore has declared a clean bill of health for his squad too and despite not having played since 11 March due to a hamstring injury, midfielder George Byers is expected to be named among the Wednesday substitutes.
League One playoff final
A place in the Championship is up for grabs at Wembley, in a match football fans the length and breadth of the country are calling “the only game that’s on today”. But what a game it is, a winner-takes-all Yorkshire derby between Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday, two clubs whose home grounds are separated by just 15 miles.
Over 60,000 fans, two thirds of them wearing the blue and white of Wednesday, are expected to make the trek to London for this afternoon’s final and if it’s as tense as the two that preceded it this Bank Holiday weekend, not a fingernail will go unbitten on an occasion from which one set of players, backroom staff and supporters will travel home jubilant and the others in a world of pain. Kick-off is at 3.00pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
