Sheffield Wednesday v Peterborough: Six things an Owls fan in the raucous Hillsborough crowd noticed

Sheffield Wednesday did the impossible and overturned a 4-0 first leg play-off deficit to win on penalties against Peterborough at Hillsborough on Thursday night, and boy was it something to behold.

They are the first team to come back from so far behind to win and book their place at Wembley for the final against either Barnsley or Bolton on Bank Holiday Monday.

It was a night that will live long in the memory for everyone who was there, those who watched on TV and those who were too nervous, or indeed, crestfallen, to do either.

Expert Owls writers Joe Crann and Alex Miller have eulogised on the match action and the talking points from the pitch, and I’m sure there’s plenty more to come on that front, but here are six things I noticed from half way up the North Stand on a night I never want to forget…

Young fans

They say you have to give young fans something to remember. They are, potentially, the lifeblood of the club for years to come. If they get the Owls’ talons embedded into their skin at a young age, it’s hard to shake them out in the years that follow. Sat around me were a number of youngsters, from around three-years-old upwards at a The guess, and boy were they given something to remember. Looking around at their faces of astonishment, not even the great Walt Disey could have come up with a storyline as dramatic for them to feast their eyes on.

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Making eye contact with one or two of them as the game rattled on, I was transported back to being that age myself, watching my heroes on the hallowed Hillsborough turf and feeling those talons dig a little deeper every time. My young lad, seven-month-old Seth, was at home watching on TV with his mum and I cannot wait to give him his first taste of Hillsborough.

It was my dad’s friend, Andy, who used to take my brother and I on the Kop as kids and got us our first season ticket. He’s no longer with us, but last night he wasn’t far from the front of my mind.

Sharing is caring

In times of high stress, nervousness or anxiety, the comunal coming together and sharing those feelings can feel like a warm blanket on a chilly evening. It’s why we are encouraged to share our thoughts and talk things through instead of letting things build up to an uncontrollable level. And never has this been more evident, and on such a mass scale, than in the stands of Hillsborough before kick off. Mints were shared, gallows humour was dispensed and wry smiles from the older cohort of Wednesdayites to their younger counterparts were issued. We are all in this together, afterall.

Tears

Yes, there were tears. I’m not shy in admitting when lifelong Wednesday fan and player of the year Liam Palmer prodded home Wednesday’s fourth to send the game to extra time, a few of the wet ones may have tricked down this man’s fuzzy 32-year-old cheek. But I wasn’t the only one. It felt like years, scratch that, DECADES, of Wednesday blues were being released on mass. These sorts of things don’t happen to Sheffield Wednesday. Except this did happen, and I’m still not sure I believe it…

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The noise. THAT noise

Hillsborough has seen some very dramatic night, even in the last 10 years or so. Arsenal in the cup, Brighton and the lights in play-offs, Newcastle earlier this season. None of those compared to this. It was on another level. What was at stake, the mountain that needed scaling, the way the game was unfolding, it was pure, undulating drama. And the crowd lapped it up. When a tackle was won, when a header was contested, when a save was made, even when time was being wasted (from the first five minutes), the crowd didn’t stop. It was noise, on top of noise, on top of noise. If anyone needed a reminder of what Hillsborough can be, we got it.

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The Kop is a jewel in Sheffield football’s crown

I’m not going into rivalries, who is better than who and who has better fans. Sheffield is a football city, through and through, and we’re lucky to have two such well supported and respected teams. What I will say is I would be hugely surprised if any stand in the country, never mind the city, lives up to Wednesday’s Kop when it’s in full swing. It almost takes on a life of its own, the energy from those who occupy it stirring the gracious old lady and bringing her to life. It bounces, it flows in waves, it sucks and pushes the ball and it must send a shiver down the spine of opposition players, no matter what level they perform at. But best of all, it’s all ours.

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It’s why we love it, isn’t it?

We spend our hard earned coin, invest our time and emotional energies, give up family days at the weekend and have our hearts broken. Those who haven’t bought into football ask one simple question, ‘why bother?’ Thursday night is your answer. Those nights, where you really have to be there. Those nights that you will tell the next generation of fans about. Those nights that go down in folklore, become chants and enter the collective consciousness. “Were you there when the Worksop Cafu slotted home to take it to extra time?” will be a question in bars, pubs and coaches to away games for decades to come. All those miles, heartbreaks and empty bank accounts were leading to that moment.