AT 39, Chris O’Grady’s memory isn’t what it used to be.
But there’s one moment that remains crystal clear.
Thirteen years ago, the striker’s powerful header earned Sheffield Wednesday a 1-0win over Sheffield United at Hillsborough -and turned the League One title race on its head.
At kick-off, Danny Wilson’s Blades were five points clear of the Owls in second place and had won all but two of their previous 13 games.
Wednesday, by contrast, had lost their previous three matches and actually replaced manager Gary Meg-son with Dave Jones just 72 hours after their derby-day victory.
Yet 13 games later it was Sheffield Wednesday who had snatched the final automatic spot, condemning their Steel City rivals to a play-off final defeat at the hands of Huddersfield and five more years in the third tier.
“As time passes, you lose memories and things fade,” says O’Grady, who is still playing for seventh-tier side Mickleover.
“But a moment like that is a memory you can’t lose. It’s kind of etched there forever and etched in other people’s minds too.
“I’ve been in Sheffield this week and I spoke to all sorts of people who still remember it really well. It’s part of their own personal history, and that’s a really lovely thing.
“I remember the cross, getting a good connection and it going right in the corner.
“I remember running to Gary, not knowing then that it would be his last game.
“But the thing I think was most significant looking back was that it completely changed our season.
“We were on an awful run at the time. If they’d won that game, they probably would have been uncatchable.
“Instead it spurred us on to actually catch them, surpass them and then get promoted.
“We didn’t lose another game for the whole season and that result was kind of the catalyst for everything.”
Such is the gap between the sides that a win for the blue and white half of Sheffield this afternoon would not be quite so seismic, though it would have the potential to damage the Blades’ hopes of automatic promotion – and keep Danny Rohl’s Wednesday outfit in contention for the playoffs.
“Sheffield Wednesday have picked up some decent wins this season but they haven’t followed them up,” says O’Grady.
“That’s been the difference between them and United – they’ve got that consistency to grind out win after win.
“But Wednesday came back from 2-0down to beat Norwich in midweek and that’s two wins on the spin.
“If they can get the result they need today – and I’m hopeful they can – then who knows what that will spur them on to do.
“It only took one result to galvanise our season and there’s no reason why it can’t be the same again.”
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