STEVE Morison believes the results between Millwall and Barnsley this season will have little bearing on what happens in the League One play-off final at Wembley this Sunday.
The Tykes could hold the psychological edge having beaten the Lions twice this season – 3-2 at The Den in August and 2-1 at Oakwell in January.
Based on the line-ups from the semi-finals, and presuming Byron Webster is fit to start, Millwall are likely to have just five of the same starters from that latter fixture, and Barnsley six. Barnsley have also changed manager since then, with Paul Heckingbottom now in charge having taken over from Lee Johnson.
And though Morison didn’t spell out any specific advantages Millwall might have over Heckingbottom’s side, he does feel the Lions were not at their best in both of the earlier league fixtures.
“They were both tough games but they’ve a completely different team,” Morison said. “They’ve brought in some new players but have managed to keep their momentum after the previous manager left. It could’ve gone to pot but it didn’t.
“They were two really tight games but we didn’t cover ourselves in glory in either game, I thought we were below par. They’ve done really well recently but so have we.
“It’s a neutral venue so no one has the upper hand in that sense. We’re going to go there and enjoy ourselves.
“This is what we aimed to get to but you never know what’s around the corner. We weren’t in the best of form earlier in the season but we feel like we’ve been getting stronger and stronger.”
Morison took on the captain’s role when Tony Craig sustained a serious knee injury in November and is excited about the prospect of wearing the armband at Wembley.
He said: “If the manager picks me to lead the team out on Sunday it will be a great honour and something to look forward to.”