Sheffield United bagged the biggest play-off win ever but they’ll never match Sheffield Wednesday’s magical moment

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After marching to the Championship play-off final with a massive aggregate win over Bristol City, Sheffield United bagged an impressive record with the biggest deficit in the play-offs ever.

The Blades had finished third in the regular season, behind the relentless Burnley and Leeds United, but in truth, Chris Wilder’s men were far closer to the top two than to the chasing pack behind them.

With 22 points separating United and their opponents in the Championship play-offs, Bristol City, it’s hardly surprising they ran out 3-0 winners in both legs of the semi-final.

That huge scoreline may be hard for United’s city rivals, Sheffield Wednesday, to see right now given their own predicament heading into the summer, but it does evoke memories of the Owls’ own impressive play-off feats in the past.

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Remembering Sheffield Wednesday’s epic play-off comeback

Cast your minds back to the night of May 18, 2023. Under the lights at Hillsborough, the Owls went into their League One play-off semi-final second leg trailing 4-0 to Peterborough United after a thrashing away from home in the first leg.

However, a Michael Smith penalty within nine minutes roused the S6 crowd, before Lee Gregory poked home a second after 25 minutes.

The belief was brewing for Darren Moore’s side, but no one really expected what came next.

Reece James slotted home his first-ever Sheffield Wednesday goal with 20 minutes of normal time to play, but it wasn’t until the 98th minute that the Owls pulled off the unthinkable and levelled the tie with a goal from veteran Liam Palmer in the dying moments to take the game to extra-time.

From there, Wednesday hearts were broken when Gregory suffered the ignominy of scoring at the wrong end to turn the tie back in Posh’s favour, but again, the Owls didn’t give up, and fan favourite Callum Paterson applied a neat finish to level it up again shortly after.

A penalty shootout followed, with Wednesday finishing Peterborough off in a 5-3 win there, thus securing their place in the play-off final, and going down in history as the only team to overturn a four-goal deficit in a play-off semi-final.

In truth, there has probably never been a better play-off game in any division in the history of the sport, and that is not an exaggeration.

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Sheffield United need to break play-offs hoodoo this season

Sheffield Wednesday would go on to triumph over Barnsley in the final to return to the Championship, with a late Josh Windass goal sealing the Wembley win there.

Now, Sheffield United need to put their own play-off record straight this year. The Blades have made it to the play-offs eight times in their history but have never succeeded in gaining promotion via that route.

Wilder can create his own legacy at United this year if he ends that horrible record, and indeed, he has never been there to change the course of fate for the Blades in their past attempts.

There’s every chance that Wilder’s resilience and ruthless spirit could be the difference-maker for Sheffield United this year, but Coventry or Sunderland will have a say in that come May 24.