From Yorkshire Post-long-ish

<div class="ds-headline" id="ds-headline">Barnsley's Royle command</div><div class="ds-firstpara" id="ds-firstpara">With a £1.65m jackpot at stake for promotion, we report from Yorkshire's rival camps

Ian Appleyard
ANDY Ritchie has turned to his former Oldham manager Joe Royle for advice ahead of Barnsley's League One play-off semi-final against Huddersfield Town.</div><div class="va-bodytext" id="va-bodytext">Ritchie, who spent seven years under Royle at Boundary Park, has never been involved in a play-off game before and has been questioning his mentor on the best way to handle the situation.
Royle is one of the most experienced managers in the game and was a play-off winner with Manchester City seven years ago as well as a losing semi-finalist with Ipswich Town and Oldham Athletic.
He has remained in touch with Ritchie since their time together at Oldham, but is unable to attend tonight's first leg at Oakwell due to a holiday in Marbella.
&quot;I have no experience of play-off games apart from watching them on television,&quot; admitted Ritchie.
&quot;I have taken as much advice as I can. I phoned Joe up because he has got a lot of play-off experience and I will be phoning him again before the game.
&quot;He was my manager for a long time and he is certainly a guy whose opinion I respect.&quot;
Barnsley qualified for the play-offs by finishing fifth in the League One table, a point behind fourth-placed Huddersfield Town.
Ritchie, however, knows that his side could, and probably should, have secured automatic promotion, but for a sequence of just two wins in the final dozen games that put paid to the possibility.
&quot;We have kept 20 clean sheets this season which is a club record and, if you take that in isolation, you would think that we would already be up and not having to go through the play-offs,&quot; he said.
&quot;But we have not taken the majority of our chances which has meant we are in this situation.
&quot;Whenever we have played a big game this season, we have shown the right character. I don't think we have played with nerves in games against Nottingham Forest, Southend or Swansea and hopefully that will carry on and we will progress to the Millennium Stadium.&quot;
The return of striker Barry Conlon after a season ravaged by injury problems could prove to be the ace up Ritchie's sleeve.
Conlon was on the bench for the final game of the season at Walsall – his first involvement in eight months – and his availability will put pressure on the team's other strikers who have all been firing blanks.
Ritchie said: &quot;I don't know what role Barry will have yet, but he has looked quite good in training and is getting fitter. He was advised not to do anything on his knee for a long time, but he has been patient and is now chomping at the bit.
&quot;I will have a think overnight, but he may be of more use to us in the away game.&quot;
Only Neil Austin and Matt Carbon are unavailable due to injury so Ritchie is quietly confident of taking a lead to the Galpharm Stadium ahead of the second leg on Monday night
He said: &quot;Any win would give us a psychological edge. I would love it to be a Watford scoreline (the Hornets took a 3-0 first-leg advantage over Crystal Palace in the Championship play-off semi-finals), but that might not happen. I think we are capable of scoring goals, but usually these games are tight with not many goals.
&quot;We have not beaten Huddersfield this season, but we know we can.
&quot;At their place, we didn't take our chances, We should have ran out 4-1 winners, but we ended up getting a 1-0 defeat.&quot;
Ritchie describes the game as the biggest of his managerial career, eclipsing Oldham's great escape act on the final day of the 1998-99 season.
&quot;Ironically, I got help from Joe Royle that day too,&quot; he said. &quot;We managed to beat Reading at home, but others also had to help us out. Joe was in charge of Manchester City and they beat York.&quot;
If Ritchie was in need of a lucky omen, his telephone calls to Royle may well have done the trick.

Experience will be key for us – Jackson

Richard Sutcliffe
PETER JACKSON believes Huddersfield Town's play-off experience of two years ago could prove crucial in the derby double-header with Barnsley.
The Terriers won promotion from the bottom division via the end-of-season knockout in Jackson's first year back in charge of the club.
A 4-3 aggregate victory over Lincoln City in the semi-finals was followed by a never-to-be-forgotten penalty shoot-out triumph in the Millennium Stadium against Mansfield Town.
Jackson, who will tonight take charge of Town for a 252nd game, said: &quot;We sampled the play-off semi-finals a couple of years ago against Lincoln and we know they are tense. It is all about how we approach the game.
&quot;It was my first season back at the club and there were a lot of young players involved in that final. Most of them are still here and it will stand us in good stead because we know what is involved in playing in a semi-final.
&quot;More importantly, we know what is involved in taking a team down to Cardiff and performing.
&quot;I was pleased we got the point at Swindon (last Saturday) to guarantee fourth place because it means the second leg will be at home.
&quot;That was what we had against Lincoln two years ago when we managed to win a very tough away tie and bring them back to the Galpharm for the final leg. It is to our advantage to play at home last.&quot;
Captain Jon Worthington, who returns after a three-game suspension tonight, is equally adamant past experience could prove crucial.
He said: &quot;It is similar in a way to two years ago when we missed out on automatic promotion, which was disappointing.
&quot;But the manager and (assistant) Terry Yorath got the players back up for it and made us very positive. We feel like that again.&quot;
The mood in the Town camp is relaxed if yesterday's press day at the Galpharm Stadium is anything to go by when Jackson was joined by Worthington and talisman striker Andy Booth.
After fielding several questions from the assembled media, the Huddersfield manager quipped: &quot;Someone ask Boothy a question, will you? Even if you can't understand him. I'll ask one – what's it like to play for the best manager you've ever played for?&quot;
After the laughter had died down, Booth was asked what Town's strengths are and proceeded to work his way through the back four before his manager interjected: &quot;Boothy, you have just named my side.&quot;
The tone may have been light-hearted, but when asked about being 180 minutes from a possible second play-off final appearance in two years Jackson was suddenly deadly serious.
He said: &quot;When I came back (in 2003), my aim was to take Huddersfield Town back to the Championship because when I got sacked (in 1999), that was the level we were at.
&quot;I see it as my job to take us back there.
&quot;We are within three games of achieving that inside three years, and that would be a fantastic achievement for me, my players and my staff.
&quot;No disrespect to the sides who have come up from League Two, but I would much rather be going to places like Birmingham, West Brom and Sunderland next season.
&quot;That is a big incentive for us all.&quot;
Andy Holdsworth is in line for a return after missing the last three games with injury.</div><div class="va-date" id="va-date">11 May 2006</div>