Psychologists and YouTube videos – How Sheffield Wednesday defied the odds to reach Wembley

It’s a night that no Sheffield Wednesday supporter will ever forget.

For the first time in the history of the EFL play-offs, a side overturned a four-goal deficit from the first leg. No team had even come back from three goals down, never mind the four that Wednesday found themselves behind by coming into the second tie.

But Darren Moore’s men put in the performance of a lifetime. They forced extra-time and then penalties, sealing spot-kick joy to move them to within one game of a Championship return that seemed unthinkable last week.

Here, we look at what some of the protagonists had to say on the hard work that was done to lay the foundations for what was an iconic night at S6….

Read more: Why Barry Bannan got a ‘wee bit scared’ after epic comeback

Table of Contents

Darren Moore

The Owls’ manager is meticulous in his approach to matches but by all accounts he took it to a new level in the build-up to this second leg.

Admittedly, that owed to a horror showing in the first tie down in Cambridgeshire. Everything that could have gone wrong for Wednesday, invariably did. Moore knew his players needed to have their minds reset, resharpened and crucially, refocused.

In that respect the unusually longer gap between games of six days proved pivotal in him and his coaching staff being able to get clear messages across.