Barnsley bring the magic back

BARNSLEY have officially put the romance back into the FA Cup, but there promises to be little love in the air at Chelsea’s Cobham training complex this week.

The west London club’s season, already dented by their defeat in the Carling Cup final to Tottenham last month, is now teetering on the brink of catastrophe.

Inevitably, attention will be fixed on Chelsea’s raft of problems in the coming days, but that is grossly unfair on Barnsley, who made a mockery of the gulf in class and wealth to produce one of the biggest victories in their history. The south Yorkshire club, just four points above the Championship relegation zone, last reached an FA Cup semi-final in 1912 but the wait has been worth it.