Sheffield Wednesday star claims 44,742 Sunderland crowd didn't faze Owls during play-off semi-final first leg

The League One play-off semi-final at the Stadium of Light between the Black Cats and the Owls set a new attendance record.

Sunderland head into the return leg on Monday evening with a slender 1-0 lead thanks to Ross Stewart’s cool first-half finish.

The Stadium of Light erupted as the ball hit the back of the net. And the stunning attendance has set a new record.

In total, 44,742 – including 2,000 Sheff Wed fans – attended, a record attendance for an EFL play-off semi-final.

Speaking after the match, Wednesday’s 24-year-old defender Storey told his club’s website: “We’re disappointed to come away with a defeat but on the other side it’s only 1-0. So it’s all to play for at our place and with our home record I think we’ll be confident going into it.

“Our home form speaks for itself. With 34,000 Sheffield Wednesday fans it will just give us an extra boost, it will be like a 12th man. We’ll be extremely confident going into it and we’ll be looking to get the win.”

Speaking about the first leg, he said: “Obviously they had 42,000 here to cheer them on. It doesn’t faze us really. I think we all blocked it out well, but yeah I think at 1-0 there’s a few positives to take out of it. I know obviously it’s a defeat but I just think we started the game too slow really and then we did eventually get back into it.”