Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley FC: Reds have set-piece work to do but the biggest issues are in the mind

Randell Williams' stoppage-time corner straight into Liam Roberts' net – the Reds felt their goalkeeper was being impeded on the line as it went in – gave the League One play-off semi-final a very different feel.

Without it, the way Barnsley fought back from 2-0 down, scoring through substitute Sam Cosgrove and creating a number of other decent chances afterwards, with goalkeeper Nathan Baxter – like Williams, a former Hull City player – on good form to keep out Adam Phillips, would have been the story of the first leg.

But for the Trotters – the home team on Tuesday, and the one who finished 11 points higher in the final League One table – to take a two-goal advantage felt important and potentially decisive.

Demoralised enough as it is by the events which led to coach Neill Collins’ dismissal in the final week of the regular season, the Reds cannot afford to think that way.

What annoyed Devaney, taking the team again in Lancashire as his club continues to look for a permanent successor to Collins, on Friday was the nature of all three goals his side conceded.

Barnsley failed to manage the game properly when their striker, Devante Cole, was on the sidelines waiting to come back on after treatment midway through the first half, and left Dion Charles in too much space to open the scoring.

The second goal, a penalty Charles converted, came about after a defensive mix-up between Jordan Williams and Roberts resulted in the latter fouling Josh Sheehan.

Not that Devaney was alone in his annoyance, with Josh Earl also airing his frustration with the media afterwards.

“You can't really do much more work on the training ground to defend that corner (better in future)," reflected the 25-year-old central defender. "It's a mistake from probably a few people.

"But it might be a lack of concentration, I'm not sure.

"It's just a weird goal. No one could put their finger on how it's gone in or why it's gone in.

"It's just one of those things in football sometimes.

"There's not much you can do on the training ground to stop that, it's just down to us as players."

The important thing is that in two-legged football, mistakes can be put right.

With no away goals rule in the play-offs, any two-goal victory will take the tie into extra-time and if needs be extra time, with a place in the Wembley final a week on Saturday.

As this will be their last game of a season which has tailed off alarmingly in the closing stages if they do not get it, Barnsley really have nothing to lose.

"The three goals are poor goals so we've got to cut out the mistakes and attack them as best we can," said Devaney.

"We've worked on set pieces and different things but it's not an on-off switch, it's something we've got to keep working at.

"I've just got to be really positive with the guys and get them believing that we can go there and win on Tuesday."

Devaney's biggest job will be in ensuring that players who have only tasted victory twice in the last 13 games are not resigned to their fate on Tuesday night. Fortunately for him and every other manager who suffers a first-leg beating in this season's play-off semi-finals, there is the example of Sheffield Wednesday to turn to.

The Owls lost their first leg 4-0 at Peterborough United in last season's League One game, but a 5-1 victory at Hillsborough, followed by a 5-3 penalty shoot-out victory was the talk of world football in the following days.

"It's going to be hard but it's half-time and we saw the play-offs last season and what other teams did so there's still a lot to play for,” said Devaney.

"The lads have got to be positive and get their chests out and if we can get that early goal, we can make it a hell of a game.

"You've got to have that belief. If we get the first goal, it can change.

"Our away form has been fantastic this season, so we can take that.

"We're the underdog, it's 3-1 but it's still all to play for – stranger things have happened

Barnsley reported no fresh injury problems in the immediate aftermath of the Friday’s game, but have some tactical decisions to make after substitutes Conor Grant and Cosgrove combined so effectively for their team’s goal after replacing Herbie Kane and Cole.

The Football League have now confirmed the final will kick off at 4.15pm on Saturday May 18.

Oxford United take a 1-0 lead from their first leg to Peterborough in Wednesday's second semi-final.