Ahead of our Sky Bet League One play-off final on Bank Holiday Monday, Jordan Williams insists preparation has been the same all week as Barnsley aim to secure an immediate return to the second tier.
The Reds travel to Wembley for a showpiece finale against South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday, and the defender says it’s a case of doing what we’ve been doing all campaign.
“We’ve been building up this week and, towards the end of the week, we’ll ramp up and concentrate on them but, at the minute, it’s just about us doing what we do and working hard throughout the week,” began Williams.
“We’ve been working hard and doing what we normally do – nothing changes; it’s the same processes. We stick to what we do, and it’s been working for us for the whole year, so we’ll stick to the process.”
After a gruelling 46-game season, we overcame Bolton Wanderers in a tense semi-final affair, eventually securing a 2-1 aggregate victory courtesy of Liam Kitching’s headed winner at Oakwell.
Over the two legs, the Reds showed tremendous resilience and determination to see off the Trotters, who had ended the term strongly, and Williams believes it is an indication of the camaraderie within the group.
“I think it shows that, throughout the season, we’ve built as a group and as a team; we’ve bonded together and dug deep on the Friday night and stuck together and stuck to the game plan,” he asserted.
“You could see that with the result.”
Barnsley have completed a league double over the Owls this season – securing a 2-0 victory at Hillsborough at the start of September before claiming a tremendous 4-2 win at Oakwell in March.
While they can potentially be used as confidence builders ahead of our trip to Wembley, Williams feels that they have no bearing on the outcome of Monday’s final.
“Those games don’t matter – it’s a one off game, winner takes all,” he said. “They’ll be going full throttle and we’ll be going full throttle, so it’ll be a very exciting and intense game for the fans and players. Hopefully we can come out on top.”
