Coventry City play-off pain driving Callum O’Hare to rewrite history with Sheffield United

His first senior experience of Wembley saw him restricted to a watching brief, with his knee in bits and barely able to walk, never mind kick a ball. His second was a cruel FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester United with Coventry City. When he steps out at the national stadium later this month in a Sheffield United shirt, Callum O’Hare will be hoping it’s third time lucky.

Or, more accurately, fourth. His first was a winning experience, as a 12-year-old representing his Solihull district side in a small-sided game on the hallowed turf. He missed Coventry’s 2023 play-off final defeat to Luton Town with a devastating ACL injury - which, ironically enough, he suffered at Bramall Lane - and scored in that epic 3-3 FA Cup semi-final against the Red Devils last season, when the Championship side were only denied a place in the final by a VAR offside decision in extra-time stoppage time.

O’Hare also went on to miss a penalty in the shootout, so it’s fair to say his experiences under the Wembley arch have been mixed, but he will travel south later this month in a rich vein of form after scoring in both legs of United’s 6-0 aggregate semi-final win over Bristol City.

He started both games on the bench, impressing coaching staff with his attitude despite the disappointment of missing out, but couldn’t do much more to put up his hand for a Wembley start against Sunderland on May 24.

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“I think I’ve played my part, so hopefully,” admitted O’Hare when asked about his hopes of regaining his place in Chris Wilder’s starting XI for the showpiece final. “But we’ll see what happens. Everyone’s put in good performances, so we’ll see what happens and it’s going to be a good day, hopefully.

“I spoke to my family and they said: ‘When you come on, make the most of it and try and impact the game.’ And I feel that’s what I’ve done in the last two games. We’re enjoying it, we’re winning games and we’ve played well all season. We just had a bad week and that cost us.

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“But we couldn’t take that into [the play-offs]. We were saying on the bench, once we got the first goal let’s go and get some more, and take some confidence into Wembley. People scoring goals, confidence flying. Hopefully we can do that there as well.”

There was a chance that O’Hare, and his United teammate Gus Hamer, could have been lining up against their former clubs at Wembley, before Sunderland edged out Coventry with a dramatic goal from Dan Ballard in extra-time injury time on Tuesday evening.

Coventry City play-off pain driving Callum O’Hare to make history with Sheffield United

O’Hare had a good relationship with Sky Blues fans during his time there, despite the connection becoming strained when he left on a free in the summer to join the Blades, and the experience of missing out on the play-off final two years ago still sticks with him to this day.

“That day for me was tough,” he admitted, “because I wanted the boys to do it so badly. I wasn’t involved, I was there but I could barely walk. I want to do it really badly this time... that was the main aim coming here and hopefully we can do it. But it’s going to be a big game.”