Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom knows exactly what it takes to win in the play-offs.
The Yorkshireman has succeed three times in the brilliant yet cruel mini tournament; twice as a player and once as a manager. The former defender helped Sheffield Wednesday gain promotion from the third tier in 2005 before doing the same with Barnsley the next year. He replicated the same success from the Tykes' dugout in 2016.
Steve Cooper, on the other hand, is hoping it will be third time lucky for him having failed to get Swansea City into the Premier League via the play-offs the last two years running. Reaching the final will be a tough task for Nottingham Forest as they face the Blades in the semi-final, with the first leg taking place on Saturday.
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The pressure on all four teams will be immense, but it's nothing that Heckingbottom hasn't dealt with before. He won't ignore the enormity of the games in front of them, but says that the team will try and approach them like any other matches they've played this season.
“For me, this is a whole new tournament, a whole new ball game if you like,” he told the media ahead facing Forest. “It doesn’t feel like ‘normal’ football if you want to put it like that.
"The challenges are different, the pressures are different and the demands are different. It’s a cup competition with a huge prize at the end of it.
“What you do is, recognise all of that but approach it in the same calm and composed manner you would always do. Take them for what they are and embrace them. The games, they take care of themselves.”
