Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley FC: Reds defender Barry Cotter on what the Reds have to do to reach Wembley

The 24-year-old had to be patient after joining from Irish side Shamrock Rovers in January but was finally given his first start for the club on the final day of the regular season. Barnsley fell to a 2-0 home defeat to Peterborough United but Cotter impressed with a series of surges forward down the right flank.

Barnsley’s form may have dipped towards the end of the campaign but it did not cost them a play-off spot and their focus is now on Bolton Wanderers, the side standing between Michael Duff’s men and Wembley.

Speaking after the final day defeat to Peterborough United, Cotter said: “We’ll be ready [for Bolton]. We have a young squad and every young player dreams of games like this, the opportunity to play at Wembley is right ahead of us. All we have to do is earn it and be ourselves. We weren’t ourselves today but as long as we’re ourselves, there’s no doubt this group can get there.”

Although the performance against Peterborough was not a particularly impressive one, both Cotter and Reds boss Michael Duff have stressed levels in training have not dropped. Cotter said: “There’s nothing promised in football and it’s the exact same here. Everything you get is earned, there’s no hand-me-downs. There’s no anything.

"You have to do the business when you get your opportunity because everyday, even the starting XI that you’ve seen, the same faces, they’re doing the business and we’re competing for their spot, kicking them on even more.

"It’s a great camp. The result doesn’t show what we’re doing through the week, it really doesn’t. We weren’t ourselves today. Behind closed doors, we’re definitely doing the work.”

Cotter is not the finished article but demonstrated a willingness to bomb forward against Peterborough, doing so with tenacity while displaying his technical ability.

He said: “I definitely enjoy playing in the final third, getting at people, that freedom of the final third. That’s not really what I’m focused on, I’m just doing what I can to help this team and help this club push in the direction they want to go.

“My job is to just give the gaffer a headache. I trust whatever decision he makes, it’s just the process that’s drilled into us. We trust in that. If I’m not in there, I trust my mate to go and do the job. At the end of the day, we’re all wearing the same badge.”

Barnsley face Bolton in the first leg of their play-off semi-final at 3pm today (May 13).