“But we knew we had somebody like Richard Naylor on the bench. Richard was another one I’d brought through the ranks.

“I remember going down to the training ground and watching Richard when he was 16 or 17, playing centre forward, running through brick walls. He was that type of player, so I had no hesitation, I knew he wouldn’t let us down, as he hadn’t in the semi-final.

“So even though Johnno was a big player for us, we had somebody like Richard Naylor to come in for him.”

Six minutes after the switch the Blues levelled. Jim Magilton crossed from the left following a corner and Tony Mowbray rose high at the back post to power a header into the roof of the net.

Mowbray, then 36, was playing the last match of his career - and his first at Wembley - having become a coach at the start of the season with the expectation that he would be a bit-part player at most during his final campaign.

However, that game at Wembley was the veteran former Middlesbrough and Celtic manager’s 40th appearance that season with the Blues using a 3-5-2 system which played to both Mowbray’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I think as a manager you’ve got players and I’m not a believer in saying ‘We only play one system, we can only do that’,” he said.

“As a manager you’ve got a duty to try and get the best out of players and get a system that suits them and that is something we were able to do very successfully because we knew Tony was a leader, he was a captain, but he lacked pace, could maybe play in a back four but with John McGreal and Mark Venus next to him they were formidable.

“Both John and Veno were great on the ball and we used to utilise them to get forward, wide and Veno was a great crosser of the ball and John never gave it away, while Tony organised things around them. It was great having Tony and that system suited him.

“We knew having a figure like Tony would inspire the rest of the team and he was always very powerful in the air, an excellent header of the ball and he scored a very good goal to equalise for us.”

The Blues were back on terms, but just before half-time Barnsley were awarded a penalty, Richard Wright having been adjudged to have brought down Hignett.

Darren Barnard took the kick but Wright saved down to his right to keep the scores level at the break. A number of players have said they felt that that was a game-changing moment in the match.

“You can say that,” Burley reflected. “But even if they score you’ve still got another 45 minutes left. Richard was always capable of saving penalties and thankfully for us he made an excellent save.”

The Blues manager remembers what he said to his players at half-time: “I just felt we could step it up a little bit. We were known as a good footballing team and we wanted Jim Magilton to get on the ball a little bit more, to get it, move it quicker, be a wee bit more positive, maybe use Richard Naylor’s power and pace more as well.

“Just step it up really, get our game going, get Jim on the ball and passing it for us, using the strength of Richard Naylor and Marcus Stewart going forward, and thankfully the team did that in the second half.”

It was in that spell after the break that the Blues effectively won the final and their place in the Premier League. They dominated possession, pinning Barnsley in their own half and in the 52nd minute they went in front.

Stewart flicked on a long ball and Naylor got behind his man and beat advancing keeper Kevin Miller before running away and celebrating shirtless.

“Richard was 100 per cent-er. He was strong and aggressive and in that game he showed great technique, which he wasn’t renowned for,” Burley said.

“He took his goal excellently, just chipped it over the keeper, a powerful run forward and just nicked it over the keeper and took it very well.”

Six minutes later, the Blues’ super sub played a part as Town made it 3-1, bringing down Mark Venus’s long ball forward and laying it off to Jamie Clapham, who whipped over a superb cross for Stewart, who got in front of his man and planted a header to Miller’s left and into the corner of the net.

“He brought the ball right from the sky right in front of him, a perfect touch,” Burley remembered. “A nice cross from Jamie Clapham and Marcus Stewart’s movement in the box was second-to-none. Marcus wasn’t the quickest but in the box, he used to take a defender one way and then go the other.

“He was as sharp as a tack and he was a good finisher with his feet and was a very good header of the ball and he scored a good header to extend our lead.”

At 3-1 with just over half an hour remaining the Blues were in a very good position if not yet home and hosed.

“You’re not almost there but you’re pleased to be in the lead,” Burley continued. “We were playing well at that time and we were confident that we’d be able to hang on to it.

“We’d lifted our game, we came out and said ‘We’ve had a decent first half but we can do better’. And we came out and showed we could and that was a crucial point for us to take advantage.”

But with 12 minutes left on the clock the Tykes were given a second penalty by referee Terry Heilbron - taking charge of his final game - after Mowbray had caught Barnsley sub Geoff Thomas. Hignett was handed the ball and this time Wright was beaten to make it 3-2.

“You get a two-goal advantage and sometimes you think you’re going to hang on to it, which is sometimes the worst thing that you can do,” Burley said.

Photo: Action Images

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