Barnsley boss Michael Duff admits getting the first goal on the night was crucial following his side’s 2-1 aggregate win against Wanderers.

Liam Kitching scored the decisive goal at Oakwell, powering a header past James Trafford after getting on the end of Luca Connell’s cross.

The Whites struggled to carve out chances at the other end, with Aaron Morley going closest to an equaliser.

The Tykes will now face Sheffield Wednesday in the final at Wembley as they aim to make an immediate return to the Championship.

"I thought we were good today," Duff told Sky Sports. "I thought the energy that we showed, the pressing was brilliant. We had to suffer for 15-20 minutes at the start of the second half.

"They're a good team so we thought about changing it, but there's a trust between me and the players now. They executed it and it's a surreal feeling.

"We're not stupid. We know about our record when we go 1-0 up or 1-0 down, but I said before the game that no matter what happens we must stick to what we do.

"Some of the defending, the blocks, the shape. Then when we do see a negative pass we try and get after it, and that's what I thought we did really well.

"We knew that they were going to come on. They were 1-0 down with 45 minutes of the season to go.

“They're a good team. Ian has got them playing, they play really good football. We knew we'd have to suffer at moments without the ball but we're quite prepared to do that.

"If you look at the age of the team, I think the oldest player is 27, so the one thing we have got is energy. When we bring a bit of intensity and quality with it, then we look a good team."

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