Sheffield Wednesday looked to have blown their chance of returning to the Championship at the end of the 2022/23 season after losing the first leg of their semi-final play-off tie 4-0 against Peterborough.
Despite amassing 96 points during the regular League One season, Sheffield Wednesday finished third in the table behind Plymouth and Ipswich and needed to go through the dreaded play-offs to get back up to the second tier.
They suffered a disastrous first leg, though, returning to Hillsborough needing to overturn a four-goal deficit. They did exactly that, with Liam Palmer equalising the tie in the eighth minute of stoppage time, before then winning on penalties after both sides scored in extra-time, in what proved to be one of the most dramatic play-off ties in history.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore still believed after first-leg humiliation
Darren Moore managed the Owls at that time, and reveals he still believed of reachin the final heading into the second leg against Peterborough.
"My religion is a real help to me in tough moments," Moore exclusively tells FourFourTwo. "Everyone thought it was over but I knew we had one more chance.
"The day after that defeat, I cancelled the planned day off and ordered the players in, to keep them off social media more than anything. Everybody left the training ground that night feeling better; I count it as one of the best managerial decisions I’ve made.
"All week leading up to the second leg, I had the lads practise penalties in case of a shootout. They thought I was mad. When we won 5-1 at Hillsborough and it went to penalties, I just smiled at the lads. They were happy then that we’d practised all week. Thankfully, we pulled it off somehow."
Wednesday managed to follow that win up with another dramatic victory in the final over Barnsley, this time through a 123rd-minute winner from Josh Windass, earning them promotion back to the Championship.
Moore, though, didn't get the opportunity to lead them at the start of 2023/24. After failing to agree terms on a new contract in June, he departed Sheffield Wednesday and was replaced by Xisco Munoz.
"I was disappointed because I felt I’d had the rug pulled from under me," Moore explains. "My job was to get Wednesday back into the Championship and I wanted to carry on our great work. I was gutted to leave. It was called a contract dispute but that’s not the full story.
"Another big regret is not getting to manage a Sheffield derby that season against United, managed by a friend of mine, Chris Wilder. "
