Bad Josh Windass, George Byers news actually handed Sheffield Wednesday the night of their lives | OneFootball

Injuries to key men downed the first domino in the Owls' miraculous play-off comeback

The season-defining absences of Josh Windass and George Byers should have derailed Sheffield Wednesday's League One promotion hopes in 2023.

Instead, these injuries inadvertently set the stage for the most spectacular playoff comeback in English football history, delivering the Owls a night that will forever be etched in the club's 155-year legacy.

What began as a devastating blow to automatic promotion ambitions culminated in Hillsborough's greatest modern miracle – a 4-0 deficit overturned and Wembley glory secured.

Sheffield Wednesday lost two stars in successive weeks

On a brisk March afternoon at Fratton Park, amid the customary hostility of Portsmouth's home ground, Wednesday continued their relentless march toward automatic promotion.

The atmosphere was already charged when Portsmouth's gamesmanship - confiscating Will Vaulks' throw-in towels - sparked early touchline drama.

The traveling Owls supporters, 1,600 strong, were soon celebrating as Josh Windass drilled home in the 11th minute after Michael Smith's intelligent header found him in space.

But their jubilation would soon be tempered. In the 35th minute, George Byers - the metronome of Wednesday's midfield - clutched his hamstring and limped from the field.

What initially seemed a routine injury setback would later be confirmed as something far more serious. By late April, Byers himself confirmed the problem was "worse than expected," ending his season.

The following week, as the Owls broke their club record with a 23-game unbeaten streak in a 1-1 draw against Bolton, Windass too would exit the stage, substituted on the hour mark.

His absence would stretch on, depleting Darren Moore's attacking options at the campaign's most critical juncture.

Dismal form without Josh Windass and George Byers

The record-breaking unbeaten run dissolved almost immediately without the duo's influence.

A 4-2 defeat at local rivals Barnsley was disappointing; the subsequent 1-0 loss to relegation-threatened Forest Green Rovers was nothing short of embarrassing.

The team that had seemed unstoppable suddenly appeared toothless, bereft of Byers' midfield control and Windass' attacking dynamism. A frustrating sequence of draws against Cheltenham, Lincoln City and Oxford United followed, as Wednesday's automatic promotion hopes began slipping from their grasp.

A revival came in early April with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Accrington Stanley, sparking a return to form. But the damage had been done during that mid-season collapse. Even as the Owls steamrolled toward the season's conclusion, they were now dependent on favors from elsewhere.

When those favours failed to materialise - with unstoppable form for both Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle confirming Wednesday's playoff fate - there was at least consolation in Windass' return to action, featuring briefly as a substitute in a commanding win at Shrewsbury Town on the league's penultimate weekend.

By season's end, Wednesday had amassed an extraordinary 96 points - more than any other side in English football history not to achieve automatic promotion, and the highest total in the club's own distinguished history.

The record offered little immediate solace, however, with the lottery of the playoffs looming.

The Miracle of Hillsborough, and promotion to the Championship: despair to delirium

The first blow was devastating. Peterborough United, who had sneaked into the playoffs partly thanks to Wednesday's final-day victory over Derby, dismantled the Owls in a 4-0 first-leg rout.

Jack Taylor and Joe Ward struck in the first half at the Weston Homes Stadium, before Kwame Poku and Jonson Clarke-Harris completed the humiliation after the break. It made a mockery of the 19-point gap that had separated the sides in the regular season.

What followed at Hillsborough the following week defied logic, expectation, and precedent.

The Hillsborough crowd of 32,000 never lost faith. Moore's men began with purpose, halving the deficit within the opening eight minutes when Michael Smith converted from the spot after Marvin Johnson was fouled. When Lee Gregory prodded home from close range after 25 minutes, belief began to surge through the famous old ground.

After the break, Reece James' 71st-minute strike reduced the arrears to just one goal. Then, in the eighth minute of stoppage time, with Hillsborough at fever pitch, Liam Palmer bundled home from a long throw to level the tie at 4-4.

No side in playoff history had ever overturned more than a two-goal advantage. Wednesday had just climbed a mountain - but the night was far from over.

Extra time delivered yet more drama. Gregory's unfortunate own goal seemed to have crushed Wednesday's spirit just before the break. But Callum Paterson's equaliser took the tie to penalties with the aggregate score deadlocked at 5-5.

Five perfect penalties from Wednesday, alongside Dan Butler's miss for Peterborough, completed the comeback of all comebacks.

The epilogue would be written at Wembley, where a fit-again Josh Windass - whose absence alongside Byers had inadvertently set this extraordinary chain of events in motion - scored the last gasp winner to secure Championship football.

Automatic promotion might have been the Owls' destiny with Windass and Byers available throughout. But fate, in its infinite wisdom, had written a far more glorious story - one of heartbreak transformed into ecstasy, of despair giving way to delirious joy.

In football's great paradox, sometimes you must lose something to gain something greater.

Sheffield Wednesday lost two key players and briefly surrendered hope of promotion, but in that darkest moment discovered their greatest strength - authoring a story of resurrection more glorious than any straightforward success could ever have been.