Kenyan defender misses promotion to English Championship by six seconds in thrilling final

FOOTBALL Kenyan defender misses promotion to English Championship by six seconds in thrilling final

Imran Otieno • 21:00 - 29.05.2023

The Playoff had everything including a red card and a final minute goal.

Kenyan defender, Clarke Oduor’s 10-man Barnsley suffered a heartbreaking last-gasp 1-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday in the English Football League (EFL) League One Playoff final on Monday.

The 23-year-old has one Harambee Stars cap against his name after coming on as a substitute in the 2-1 win over Zambia back in October 2020 but is yet to receive another call up since.

Oduor has been out of favour at Barnsley and was shipped out on loan to League Two outfit Hartlepool United at the start of the season before cutting short his season-long loan in January to return to his parent club.

The Leeds United academy graduate’s last game for Barnsley came back in August 2022 against Ipswich Town and is in line to exit the club in the summer transfer window.

Barnsley booked their place in the final after overcoming Bolton Wanderers in the Playoff semi-final while Wednesday overturned a massive 4-0 deficit against Peterborough.

The first half of the clash was a slugfest with neither side creating clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities in a tense finale staged in Wembley Stadium.

The second stanza however burst into life four minutes after the resumption when Adam Phillips was controversially sent off for a rush sliding tackle on Lee Gregory.

Backed by their vociferous fans, Barnsley managed to defend tooth and nail to send the tie into extra time with Wednesday failing to capitalize on the numerical advantage.

Heartbreak was finally served for Barnsley with six seconds left on the clock on extra time, Josh Windass’s diving header handed Wednesday promotion much to the agony of the Oaks fans.

Coincidentally Joash’s father Dean Windass scored the lone goal for Hull City back in 2008 that earned them promotion to the English Premier League.

Even more mind boggling was that Dean had predicted that the game would end 1-0 with his son Josh scoring the winner.