Sheffield Wednesday promoted from League One as late goal beats 10-man Barnsley
Josh Windass turned Wembley into the land of the rising son with the last-gasp winner which restored Sheffield Wednesday to the Championship.
Fifteen years after his old man, Dean, volleyed the play-off final winner that took Hull into the Premier League, with the hourglass down to the last grains of sand Windass met Lee Gregory's cross with a brilliant diving header at the death. It was desperately cruel on 10-man Barnsley, who will forever curse Adam Phillips' red card two minutes after they were robbed of a clear penalty by yet another VAR clot.
The Tykes were heroic, and still managed to create the better chances in normal time, but in the end they were heartbroken – or, as they say in the south Yorkshire coalfields, eeh bah glum. Windass said: "That was probably the worst standard of game you will ever watch – the level from both teams was shocking. There was no real quality on show and luckily we got the winning goal.
"I wasn't thinking about my dad scoring - we worked all week with me playing off the front and trying to get to the edge of the box for cutbacks and luckily, in the last minute, it came off. I heard their manager left our game against Peterborough early because he said we were out. So, unlucky!"
Asked what his father would say to him later, he laughed: “I don't know – he's probably five Jaegerbombs deep now, so probably not much!”
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Windass senior, now 54, gushed: "I told him before the game he'd get the winner. I can't believe he actually headed it. Wow! I'm the proudest man in the world. I have no words - I can't believe it. He loves his football and has sacrificed his life for it since he was two years old."
Adam Phillips is sent off against Sheffield Wednesday (Getty Images)Who was your man-of-the-match as Sheffield Wednesday beat Barnsley? Share your thoughts in the comments below
If Wednesday's performance was laboured, and light years from the semi-final miracle against Peterborough, their return to English football's upper slopes is overdue. Hillsborough is one of the game's cathedrals, but it's high time they found a few bob and the National Lottery stepped in to subsidise rebuilding the Leppings Lane end, which is a spooky monument to disaster.
But if the gods were with them at Wembley, Wednesday at least summoned the staying power to prevent a third consecutive play-off final being settled by penalties, which had never happened before. Owls manager Darren Moore said: I'm pleased for Josh because he missed large parts of the season through injury and he through everything at that header to get the right contact.
“It goes to show what can be achieved when a club comes together and that finish was the stuff dreams are made of.”
After an opening half of artless scuffling, the game erupted with two huge controversies in as many minutes immediately after the break.Wednesday striker Gregory was fortunate to escape conceding a penalty after his careless swipe caught Liam Kitching's shin and none of the ball.
VAR Tony Harrington – no, never heard of him before, either – looked at it and, bizarrely, saw nothing wrong. But when Gregory was caught by Tykes midfielder Adam Phillips' lunge, referee Tim Robinson brandished a red card and Harrington saw no reason to intervene.
Phillips' challenge was out of control, reckless and unnecessary, so Barnsley can have few complaints on that score. But in a major final, Harrington's failure to send Robinson to consult his pitchside monitor and review the penalty incident was unacceptable.
Josh Windass and his Sheffield Wednesday teammates celebrate the striker's late winner (Getty Images)Barnsley – brave, blustering Barnsley – refused to curl up their toes. And when they ran out of steam, keeper Harry Isted was magnificent, denying Michael Smith and Barry Bannan with fabulous saves before Luca Connell shanked horribly wide when the had the chance to win it for the Tykes.
Barnsley manager Michael Duff faces a desperately difficult task to lift his broken players after such a dramatic – and undeserved – defeat. Of the six teams who lost in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 play-off finals, none was promoted the following season.
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The Tykes boss said: “I've had enough text messages on my phone already, from people I trust, to know we were on the wrong end of some key decisions. It's been a long season and to take that one in the 123rd minute of the last game was tough – it's the cruellest way I've ever been beaten.
“We're a young team and there's no d***heads, but we've conceded nine penalties this season and not been given one. Our fans were outnumbered two to one in the stands and we were outnumbered on the pitch as well, but I could not be prouder of the way we fought.
“It's not all about refereeing – we have to give credit to Sheffield Wednesday because they finished third in the league with 96 points and over the season they probably deserved to go up, but I'm not sure they were the best team today.”
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