Barnsley's Nicky Cadden on why Reds' route back to Championship is a hard one to navigate

Namely that a pretty cagey affair in Lancashire on Saturday was partially affected, on a psychological level at least, by the tumultuous events of the previous night when Sheffield Wednesday imploded in a 4-0 defeat at Peterborough United in a shock result in the opening leg of the other League One semi-final.

As a result, both Reds and Wanderers were understandably keen to not lose the tie in the opening 90 minutes.

Offering a player's perspective, Barnsley goalscorer Nicky Cadden believes the game at London Road did not affect him or his team-mates – but did agree with the notion that it is important to stay in the tie, first and foremost.

Cadden said: "Personally, I was not thinking about that (Friday's game).

"Listen, watching it was crazy – obviously with how good Sheffield Wednesday have been this year. But that can happen in the play-offs and it's basically a cup competition.

"I don't think it affected us. I can only speak for me personally and it didn't affect me. (Although) you can never win it in the first leg, you can lose it.

"They have got an uphill task and if they do that, then I think it's the biggest comeback in history. I enjoyed watching it and I will watch the Thursday game as they will be both at it.

"If we get to Wembley, it will be a tough game."

After delivering a tactically sound game plan amid a raucous environment at Bolton, Barnsley must do the same and retain their sense of calm and order at a similarly pumped-out Oakwell on Friday when the bulk of the fan power will be harnessed in their direction on this occasion.

Cadden added: "We did well and Harry (Isted) did not have a lot of saves to make and we had a lot of shots and I thought our game plan was good and we worked hard all week and it came to fruition on the day.

"Hopefully we can do the same on Friday and come out on top. It will be tough.”

"We have played them a few times and every game has been tough.

“The big games and massive crowds are what I came here for. Oakwell is always bouncing when it’s near enough sold-out.

"The Sheffield Wednesday game on Sky was brilliant and hopefully we can do that again."