South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley meet at Wembley on Monday with a place in the Championship on the line.
League One’s third and fourth-placed sides face off in the play-off final, in what promises to be a fiery and thrilling contest in the nation’s capital.
Barnsley advantage over Sheffield Wednesday
Wednesday are favourites after their remarkable turnaround against Peterborough United in the semi-final, becoming the first club to overturn a 4-0 deficit in the EFL play-offs, but Football League World’s Barnsley fan pundit Joe Beardsall believes people are sleeping on the Tykes.
He points to the record between the two sides this season – with Michael Duff’s men beating them 2-0 and 4-2 – as a key factor.
He said: “Barnsley being the only side to do the double over Sheffield Wednesday this season is a massive advantage for the Reds.
“It’s clear to see that when these two teams meet, Barnsley know how to beat Sheffield Wednesday.
“We’ve not just beaten them this season, we’ve battered them both times. First time, 2-0 flattered them for me – I think we easily could have had a third and maybe a fourth.
“In fairness, in the reverse leg, we took the game by the scruff of the neck early on and took a lead, they did fight back and that’s fair play to them, but ultimately we still won by two clear goals and could’ve had a couple more as well.
“Closer in the second game at Oakwell but overall, we comfortably beat them both times.
“I don’t see this being an issue for us as long as we turn up and play to the ability we’ve got, I can see us beating them in the final.”
Do Sheffield Wednesday have all the momentum?
There have been suggestions that the Owls have all the momentum after their semi-final triumph but FLW’s fan pundit doesn’t see it that way.
He explained: “Everyone’s talking about Sheffield Wednesday because of that incredible comeback against Peterborough. Look, it was an incredible comeback, I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t, however, when you look on paper Peterborough finished 19 points behind Wednesday.
