Barnsley – Millwall. Thomas Giles prediction

The two underdogs from the playoff semis have found themselves through to the final, and deservedly so after convincingly beating their opponents in the previous round. Both of these sides have been in the Championship in recent years and will be looking to get back to where they feel they belong.

How often do we see the team that finishes in the last playoff place in the regular season go on to get promoted? Of course this success is usually achieved thanks to excellent end-of-season momentum, however, Barnsley is a unique story. At Christmas they were struggling against relegation and lost their highly-rated manager Lee Johnson to Bristol City but now find themselves in the playoff final thanks to an amazing turnaround. Paul Heckingbottom is currently caretaker at the Tykes and, whether his side are promoted or not on Sunday, should definitely be considered for the role full time. Barnsley are an excellent attacking side as shown by their 70 goals in the league this season which was further highlighted by their 6-1 aggregate demolition of Walsall in the playoff semis. Their striker Sam Winnall has been in superb form this campaign and has scored 23 goals, putting him third in the League One goal-scoring charts.

Millwall are probably in the position they expected to be in having been relegated from the Championship last season. With this being the case it is easy to forget that their manager, club legend Neil Harris, is in his first managerial role after being promoted from his role with the Lions’ U21 side last year. Like Barnsley, Millwall’s strengths are up front where strikers Lee Gregory and Steve Morison have contributed to almost 60 goals this season.

Picking a winner for this match is really tough as it will be a close game (as shown by the odds offered by the bookies). However, I will go with Barnsley. They have the best record in England in this calendar year and I was incredibly impressed by their performances in their matches against Walsall in the semis. Additionally, they recorded victories over Millwall in both of their league fixtures this season giving them the edge over their opponents on Sunday.