He told us that as one, we couldn’t be broken and that we could do this. He then got the remaining 19 sticks and tried to break them all together but couldn’t. Before the game, he pulled out 20 sticks, took one and snapped it in front of us. “That’s what the manager has brought back to this Club and that’s what us as players believe. That means ‘by wisdom and courage’ and that’s what this Club is all about. On our Club badge reads the Latin words, ‘Consilio et Animis’.

He recalls: “I remember saying to myself on my way into the game that night, ‘if any team can do it, we can at Hillsborough’. The Club’s most loyal servant found the back of the net in the eighth minute of added time to force the tie to extra time. It was only fitting that it would be boyhood Owl Liam Palmer to level proceedings for Wednesday on aggregate at 4-4. If there was a time to step up, it was now. Wednesday had put five goals past three different opponents at Hillsborough this season: Forest Green Rovers, Cambridge United and MK Dons. He just told me that tomorrow I needed to take the Club to Wembley, but to say I was doubtful would be an understatement.”īefore the Owls, no team had ever overturned a four-goal deficit in a Play-Off Semi-Final. Windass remembers: “Honestly, he pulled me into his office the day before the game and that’s all he said. The Owls boss called Wembley goal scorer Windass in for a chat and issued the attacker – who was named in the divisional Team of the Season with 12 goals and seven assists to his name – with a command: “Tomorrow you need to take this Club to Wembley, now get out of my office.” Staring down the barrel after a 4-0 defeat to Peterborough United from the first leg, they needed nothing less than a miracle to see them through to Wembley.īut manager Darren Moore had a plan to galvanise his team. Just over a week prior, the Owls produced one of the most rip-roaring fightbacks in the Semi-Final second leg at Hillsborough. Sheffield Wednesday had squeezed just about every last thrill out of what will go down as a season to remember when Josh Windass headed in the winning goal against Barnsley at Wembley in the Sky Bet League One Play-Off Final with just five seconds left on the clock. EFL Community & Education Football Alliance.

If you knew my story word for word