Barnsley boss Michael Duff is relishing a League One play-off final showdown against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday after seeing his side prove the naysayers wrong to book a trip to Wembley.
The Tykes will face their South Yorkshire neighbours for a place in the Championship on May 29 after overcoming Bolton in their semi-final.
Having drawn the first leg 1-1, Barnsley secured a 2-1 aggregate victory thanks to a narrow win at Oakwell on Friday, Liam Kitching netting the only goal of the game in the 24th minute when he powered home a header from Luca Connell’s superb cross.
Duff hailed his side’s performance and reflected on how far they had come since he was appointed head coach last June, saying: “It was a tight game over the two legs. We knew that they’d have more of the ball than us but that didn’t bother us.
“I think my oldest player is 27 so the one thing we have is energy. When we bring an intensity and quality to it, then we’re a really hard team to beat.
“When we walked into the football club, there was a real disconnect in terms of a boardroom reshuffle, new staff and 26 players in and out, I think it was.
“There was a sort of apathy in terms of ‘Well, you’ve sold all the best players, this year’s pointless. We might as well not turn up this year’.
“We had a few bumps along the way. We had a month without scoring a goal in October, so they’d been written off really early, this group of players. Post-Christmas, it’s been building and building.”
Looking ahead to the final against Wednesday, Duff said: “They’re a very good team. They’ve not had many losses, but they’ve had two, which have been against us, so we know we can hurt them.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be a brilliant occasion but we’re not going there for a day out. We are in it to win it now.”
Bolton manager Ian Evatt rued his side’s lack of cutting edge as they failed to make the most of the possession they enjoyed against Barnsley.
However, he immediately set his sights on returning “bigger, better and stronger” next season with the goal of securing an automatic promotion place.
He said: “The biggest disappointment for me is the outcome, really. We controlled the game tonight.
“I think we started the better team and quietened the crowd – everything we spoke about doing. Really, the goal came out of the blue. It’s definitely not a foul.
“It kind of rocked us a little bit and it took us a while to find our stride again. That came at the start of the second half. Again, we had control and we were dominating the ball, but we just didn’t penetrate enough, and we lacked a cutting edge.
“I think really that’s the story of our season. If you look at our defensive record, it’s up there with Ipswich, but we just haven’t scored enough goals.
“There’s significant progression and significant improvement. The board have been outstanding with their support for me and that will continue next season.
“People are going to expect us to be in those top two positions next season and I don’t see why we can’t be. We have to work really, really hard to leave no stone unturned and come back bigger, better and stronger.”
James withdraws from England squad with calf injury
England confirmed that Lauren James has withdrawn from the squad for their upcoming friendlies against Germany and South Africa.
James was named in Chelsea's starting line-up for their Women's Champions League win over FC Twente, but was replaced by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd after the warm-up after sustaining a calf injury.
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor revealed ahead of the Blues' 5-2 victory over Tottenham that the 23-year-old is expected to be out of action for the next five to six weeks.
It serves as a bitter blow to both Chelsea and England, with James having been in fine form since the beginning of last season.
Since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, only Manchester City duo Khadija Shaw (28) and Lauren Hemp (27) have registered more Women's Super League goal involvements than James (17 - level with Alessia Russo).
James' influence on games goes beyond goals and assists in the WSL, with her 36 completed dribbles since the start of last season a total only bettered by Rytting Kaneryd (37) among her team-mates.
However, England manager Sarina Wiegman does not plan on calling up a replacement for James, with the Lionesses boasting several replacements already in their ranks.
Inzaghi pleased with Inter's spirit against Roma despite early injury nightmare
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi hailed his team's fighting spirit after Sunday's 1-0 Serie A win over Roma.
Early injuries to Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi threatened to derail Inter's chances on Sunday, but the Serie A champions held firm to secure the points.
Inzaghi was pleased with the team's performance and result, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the only goal of the game in the second half, but could not ignore the setbacks suffered by two key players.
"Calhanoglu wasn't in great shape over the last two days, so with the other two available I would’ve rested him this evening. He is generous and tried to put in the effort, but he felt the adductor pain and stopped before it got worse," Inzaghi told DAZN.
"Roma are a solid side with a lot of good players coming off the bench, so the fact we had to use up two substitutions was a real problem."
The victory lifted Inter to second in the Serie A table, one point behind league leaders Napoli and one point above as yet unbeaten Juventus, who they face in their next league game.
Aside from the injuries, Inzaghi was pleased with how the evening played out.
"Roma are a strong team with quality, so the lads did really well. The first half was balanced, in the second we had two or three opportunities to double our lead and should’ve killed off the game," he said.
Striker Martinez was singled out for praise by his manager after netting his third league goal of the season and 133rd for Inter in all competitions, which put him level with the club's all-time scoring record for a non-Italian.
"He just has to keep doing what he has done with Inter and Argentina. I think he is one of the five best players in the world. He deserves all of this success," Inzaghi said.
Bompastor wants goalline technology in WSL
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor has called for goalline technology to be introduced in the women's game following a controversial incident in Sunday's win over Tottenham.
The Blues continued their fantastic start under Bompastor with a 5-2 Women's Super League victory at Kingsmeadow.
However, the match was not without incident, as Spurs' first goal, which cancelled out Maika Hamano's opener, came in contentious fashion.
Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was adjudged to have bundled the ball over her own goal-line from Amanda Nilden's wayward pass.
Hampton received a yellow card for her protests, with replays showing the ball had not crossed the line, and Bompastor believes the introduction of goal-line technology must be forthcoming.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Bompastor said: "I just think in this type of situation we just need to help the referees. From what I was watching the game it's difficult to say if the ball was in or out. I just feel like if the technology is in for the men's game why don't we have the same?
"I think it will help the referees and for the assistant referee I think that's a hard call to make. If you're unsure it's really difficult but that's the way it is. The referee takes some decisions, and we have to accept that.
"If the technology is here we should use it. It's about having a budget - it costs money. If we want to look professional we just have to have the same thing as the men's game."
Chelsea regained the lead when Nilden put through her own net just before half-time, and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd's magnificent volley put them two goals to the good in the 70th minute.
Sandy Baltimore made it 4-1 four minutes later, slotting home a rebound after Guro Reiten's penalty came back off the post, with Rytting Kaneryd having the final say in stoppage time after Eveliina Summanen had pulled one back for Spurs.
Rytting Kaneryd got all three of her shots on target, while she also laid on the assist for Chelsea's opener.
"I hope she's going to grow again," Bompastor said of Rytting Kaneryd, whose first goal came from an expected goals (xG) value of 0.04.
"She scored some great goals and her performance was really high. I think she's confident right now on the pitch, understands exactly what I expect from her, has good chemistry with her team-mates and I think she's really helping the team to perform and get the good results."
Asked if it was the best performance of her career, Rytting Kaneryd told Sky Sports: "I feel like I keep on taking steps every day, every game. I feel like I'm in a good shape right now so maybe it was, who knows."
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