Jiri Skalak aims to turn tears to cheers on return to Hillsborough

The Czech international says he almost feels like crying every time he thinks of last season’s promotion play-off.

Skalak wished compatriot Daniel Pudil well for Wembley after the agony of two-leg elimination in May’s semi-final.

Pudil could return to the Wednesday defence today after a thigh injury, just in time for the rematch.

Players and management on both sides will be looking to play down the relevance of last season and deny any element of Albion seeking revenge.

But Skalak, in his improving but still quite limited English, could say enough to make it clear he is not among them.

The Wednesday games will mean something extra and he is quite willing to say so.

He told The Argus: “All games are important but, with Sheffield, it’s special. We must give back. We lost to them in the play-offs and it will be good for Brighton fans if we give back.

“I don’t like to remember that 0-2 (at Hillsborough in the first leg) because, if I do, I’m nearly crying! This is football sometimes and now we have time to give it back.”

Don’t take the mention of crying too literally.

Skalak was searching for the right words from his vocabulary to express his emotions.

He did not look like he was about to burst into tears when his thoughts were gently prodded towards events of last May. But nor did he want to hide how raw those emotions still are.

The first person to console him at the end of the second leg was Pudil (above).

There were not too many words to be said there and then on the pitch at the Amex.

They chatted at greater length maybe half an hour after the game in the area outside the changing rooms at the Amex as media interviews went on around them. Then they met up again in the summer for Euro 2016.

Skalak said: “We speak a lot now but Daniel has been injured.

“After the second leg, I told him it would be good if Sheffield won the final because I have a friend there but they lost, which was unlucky.”

Wednesday’s team will bear a strong resemblance to that which broke Albion hearts in the aftermath of their even more cruel near-miss during the regular season.

Adam Reach, brought in from Boro, midfielder David Jones and in-form target man Steven Fletcher are the new faces this term.

Fletcher is joint top scorer in the league for Wednesday with three, the same as Kieran Lee, who burst through for the second goal of the play-off first leg.

Ross Wallace, the man who scored in both play-off meetings, is likely to be on the bench, as is the recently acquired Will Buckley.

Both teams still have the same managers, which does not always happen after play-off elimination.

Albion’s survivors include the man who had to go off injured and leave his side down to ten men.

But, unlike Skalak, Anthony Knockaert believes the play-offs should be banished far from collective memory banks.

They are not even required for motivational purposes.

Knockaert told The Argus: “We have forgotten about the play-offs already.

“It’s a new season. You can see already in the table we are in a good position.

“All we need to think about is game by game this season and think about ourselves. Last year was really unlucky but that’s football.

“If you always think about what happened, you will have some bad memories and you are not going forward. We need to go there and think about three points.”

Albion go into the game as the best-placed of last season’s play-off losers, albeit now just one point above Wednesday.

Derby are some way further back but appear to be in the process of making changes.

Knockaert said: “It doesn’t mean, because we lost in the play-offs, that they are better than us. It’s just two games when they did well.”