A NIGHT of legend and heroes. Pure football gold.
Beginning with a tribute to soccer colossus Derek Dooley, an FA Cup epic unfolded at Barnsley. And Derek would have approved wholeheartedly.
Not least of goalscorer, game-winner Kayode Odejayi.
Big, bold, brave as a high-energy young centre-forward, Dooley terrorised centre-backs in his too brief and brilliant career. Welcome to that terror, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho.
They couldn't have been expecting it. The few hundred who watch Barnsley home and away certainly weren't.
Odejayi, great athlete and nice guy, doesn't score goals. Except once before for Barnsley, late last summer when the mighty Scunthorpe couldn't stop him.
Since then, zero, zilch, nothing, nowt but a bit of stick probably from the same big gobs who couldn't keep it buttoned for the pre-match silent tribute to Dooley.
In and out of the team, he might not have played at all had Jon Macken not been cup-tied.
Manager Simon Davey took a punt and threw him in alongside Istvan Ferenczi. One hit the post, the other the winner.
Said Davey: "A lot of the credit, for me, has got to go to 'Kay'.
"He has been fantastic all season. He got a bit of criticism earlier, but we know he's a good player and that he'd come good.
"Over the last month he's put a lot of hard work in and he's had his reward today."
Odejayi was keen to share the acclaim
"It wasn't just down to me, it was the whole squad," the big striker said.
"Everyone deserved it for the effort they put in. It's the glory of the FA Cup. It's a magical tournament and that's just proved again tonight."
The last time Barnsley reached the FA Cup semi-finals, in 1912 ,they went on to win the competition, and Odejayi believes a repeat is not out of the question.
"We know it could be our year with the teams we've turned over so far. You never know," he said.
Wembley-bound Barnsley will never forget Odejayi for Saturday but there was a huge deal more to this astounding quarter-final result.
Chelsea might have the tightest defence in the Champions League. Barnsley's back four on Saturday gave a new meaning to mean.
While Odejayi plundered the win with his brilliant header on Martin Devaney's perfect back-stick centre, Barnsley's second cup sensation of the season had its foundations in block, tackle, head and harass.
Luke Steele made his name at Liverpool, saving a barrage of shots. This was, by comparison, a walk in the park for the keeper thanks to defending of breath-taking quality.
Chelsea all but camped in Barnsley's half after they were trailing to Odejayi's 65th-minute goal. They swarmed around the box. Joe Cole was inventive on the right without being decisive.
He, like Shaun Wright-Phillips and John Terry, blazed over when well placed.
Steele had his biggest challenge when a Cole centre reached Nicholas Anelka. Steele gathered the shot safely.
Chelsea improved from their first-half showing. By then they knew they were in a game and they were struggling.
Injuries kept Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba out of the line-up.
It seemed Barnsley carried hope in their hearts direct from Liverpool and Davey's team delivered more than just that in a grand first half.
Chelsea might have been caught cold in the second minute. Jamal Campbell-Ryce slipped an inside-left ball into Brian Howard's run and from 15 yards the shot was deflected wide.
Next Devaney delivered from wide right and Howard's audacious back-heel was blocked.
Chelsea didn't really raise themselves much above tickover and they had nothing to show for the first half except anxiety. They went forward but Steele had it easy and when Cole wriggled into space on the edge of the area Rob Kozluk steamed in decisively.
Barnsley pressed more and Odejayi was a revelation. All energy and purpose, he was swifter to a Terry back-pass than Carlo Cudicini in the 22nd minute only to stab waywardly.
The traffic flowed more into Chelsea territory and a towering free-kick by Bobby Hassell reached Ferenczi for the best chance of the first half. From inside the area, he shot on to the post.
Chelsea had been warned.
Barnsley were never going to dominate the second half as they did the first. But with Campbell-Ryce a bundle of energy and a better player on the day than Wright-Phillips, there was always hope on the break.
Hassell was rock-solid as a midfield enforcer and no-one in a red shirt let energy levels drop.
All they needed was a chance.
Marciano van Homoet ran an overlap, Devaney punted a 30-yard ball towards the far post from his right wing.
It should have been Cudicini's except Odejayi was in front of him.
At the peak of his leap, the striker headed down and in and into Barnsley football history.
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The full article contains 883 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.