Huddersfield Town play-off winning captain gives insight on player emotions before Wembley final

Former Huddersfield Town captain Tommy Smith has shared his experience of skippering the side to their 2017 Championship play-off final triumph to help shed light on what the current crop of players will currently be experiencing ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Nottingham Forest.

The right-back wore the captain’s armband against Reading five years ago as David Wagner’s side earned promotion to the Premier League on penalties, with Christopher Schindler scoring the famous winning spot kick.

There has been plenty of talk about the pressure on the two sets of players ahead of this year’s final, but Smith said the mood in the camp in 2017 was very different – especially after they set the precedent for this year’s trip overseas for some warm weather training.

Asked on Radio 5 Live podcast Football Daily 72+ about his experience leading the Terriers into their victory that day, Smith said: “I just remember sheer excitement … It’s such an exciting few weeks. There’s a bit of a gap between the semi-final and the final.

“I remember when David Wagner was in charge of our team he took us to Portugal with the families for five days before the final, so obviously we were over in Portugal for a bit of training, a bit of sun, we had the families with us which was obviously nice, and then we came back to the training ground and had four or five days of real hard work before the game.

“So it was just sort of excitement. We were obviously all looking forward to the day. We got there the day before and had a little walk around the ground, and it all just makes you realise what you’ve worked all the season for, it comes down to that game. Obviously we won on the day which was amazing, so it’s just an unbelievable feeling all round