Barnsley 3-1 Millwall
League One Play-Off Final
Sunday 29 May
Wembley Stadium connected by EE
By Ross Lawson
Boss Paul Heckingbottom admitted getting Barnsley to the Championship was the stuff of dreams after their struggles in the early part of the season.
The Tykes were bottom of the League One table in November and inside the relegation zone over Christmas.
But with all the momentum behind them having forced their way into the top-six on goal difference it took Ashley Fletcher just 90 seconds to net.
Adam Hammill’s long-range strike had shell-shocked Millwall two behind in the first 20 minutes at Wembley.
And though Mark Beevers pulled one back in a breathless first half, Lloyd Isgrove’s header 17 minutes from time sealed Barnsley’s promotion.
And for Heckingbottom, who only arrived at Oakwell in February but also guided his side to Johnstone’s Paint Trophy victory at Wembley last month, revelled in an unforgettable achievement.
“I’m so proud of all the players, they’ll never know how proud I am,” he said.
“But I’m not one for looking back, it’s always what’s next so I’ll celebrate for a couple of days and then think about the next challenge.
“This win has come through hard work, determination and a willingness to go above and beyond, and we’ll keep reminding them of that.
“They’re Championship players now, on merit. They’ve been through hard times and now they’ve got the ultimate goal.
“We’ve had a lot of players out of contract but, with that uncertainty, my message was to put that to the back of the mind.
“We were chasing bigger things, so I asked them to be a little bit selfless, put the team first, chase these goals and promotion and they’ve done it.”
It took just 92 seconds for Fletcher to open the scoring, picking a gap in the Lions’ defence to turn his man and slot beyond Jordan Archer from the edge of the area.
Hammill doubled after Millwall lost possession in the middle of the park, ghosting past three defenders and unleashing an unstoppable curler for his second Wembley goal of the season.
Millwall looked flustered, but fought back and ended the half the stronger, with Tony Craig mis-kicking to the path of Beevers, who spun and fired home to pull one back.
The second half provided far fewer opportunities, unsurprising given the frantic first 45 minutes, but one of the smallest men on the pitch was on hand to head Barnsley to victory.
Isgrove beat Archer to Conor Hourihane’s near-post corner to restore the two-goal cushion, ensuring Neil Harris’ side missed out on immediate promotion back to the second tier.
“You can’t give a team three goals and expect to win at Wembley,” said the Millwall boss.
“We’re disappointed with the score. We came here with hope and expectation, but we didn’t perform well for 90 minutes, we had spells where we looked threatening, but over the course of the game we gave away two poor goals.
“But this year we’ve shown we’re a proper Millwall team. We had a lot of transition over the summer and a slow start in the season but they’ve grown into it.
“We’ve built the foundations for a long period of time, put pride back in the club after a difficult couple of years, and had a real strong finish. But today we fell short.”
Barnsley (4-4-2): 1 Adam Davies; 7 Josh Scowen, 26 Alfie Mawson, 4 Marc Roberts, 22 George Williams; 34 Lloyd Isgrove, 8 Conor Hourihane (captain), 11 Josh Brownhill, 20 Adam Hammill; 11 Josh Brownhill, 9 Sam Winnall
Substitutes: 24 Ivan Toney for Fletcher 81, 15 Marley Watkins for Isgrove 84
Substitutes not used: 13 Nick Townsend, 5 Lewin Nyatanga, 12 Jak McCourt, 32 Harry Chapman, 35 Aiden White
Goals: Fletcher 2, Hammill 19, Isgrove 74
Bookings: Williams, Roberts
Manager: Paul Heckingbottom
Millwall (4-4-2): 13 Jordan Archer; 4 Carlos Edwards, 16 Mark Beevers, 5 Tony Craig, 3 Joe Martin; 19 Chris Taylor, 26 Nadjim Abdou, 24 Ben Thompson, 18 Shane Ferguson; 9 Lee Gregory, 20 Steve Morison (captain)
Substitutes: 22 Aiden O’Brien for Martin 43, 10 Fred Onyedinma for Thompson 76, 6 Shaun Williams for Edwards 82
Substitutes not used: 1 David Forde, 8 Ed Upson, 15 Sid Nelson, 28 Jamie Philpot
Goals: Beevers 34
Bookings: None
Manager: Neil Harris
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistant referees: Robert Jones and Nigel Lugg
Fourth official: Stephen Martin
Attendance: 51,277