Originally Posted by
MadAmster
What a roller coaster. Barnsley had the better start. Wendy took over and were dominant. 0-0 at HT. 2nd half starts and Barnsley start the brightest. 47th minute, ball flying about in the box. Gregory goes for the ball but only manages to kick a Barnsley player on the calf between 3 and 4 feet off the floor. It's a penalty but the ref waves it away. VAR sees no reason to overrule the ref's decision. IMO, the officials got it wrong. 49th minute, Phillips clatters Gregory. It's a free kick. Ref got that right. It's a yellow but the ref reaches for his back pocket and pulls out the red card. Wrong. Yellow all day. That's 2 bad decisions gone against Barnsley inside 2 minutes. Down to 10 men you think it's over but Barnsley had other ideas. They were the dominant side for quite a while despite being down to 10. 0-0 at 90 minutes and 2 x 15 minutes extra time to be played. By now Barnsley will be feeling low, 2 decisions go against them and they have played well with 10 and Isted in goal is having a blinder. They deserve the chance to win the game. Extra time saw Wendy the better side but a series of blocks from defenders and good saves from Isted saw time running out. The 4th official signals a minimum of 3 minutes extra time at the end of the 2nd period of ET. 2 minutes and 58 seconds into the 3 minutes, a good move sees a cross from the left, a diving header from Windass, Isted gets his hands to it but can't keep it out. I thought Barnsley deserved a crack at penalties rather than the last second execution they got. On top for periods but, statistically, 2nd best, their efforts deserved more than to go out in the way they did. Wendy had 22 shots to 9. 8 on target to 2. So they should have with the man advantage. My heart goes out to Isted who certainly didn't deserve the manner of defeat. Right chuffed for Darren Moore.
In effect, considering their aging squad, this was probably last chance saloon for Wendy and the Gods were on their side.
A little aside... all 3 EFL playoff finals were won by managers who have played for Derby County Football Club.