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Odejayi: FA Cup hero

People were all over me, I couldn't get my breath and someone was trying to kiss me. One of my mates was on the pitch and I told him to get off before he got himself arrested!

Brian Howard
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• Barnsley

FA Cup hero Kayode Odejayi hopes his winner against Chelsea will finally earn him some much-needed love from the Barnsley supporters.

Odejayi joined Barnsley skipper Brian Howard on the Goals on Sunday sofa less than 24 hours after their quarter-final victory over Chelsea and shared their memories of a remarkable day with Chris Kamara and Paul Boardman

Striker Odejayi was an unlikely hero after failing to find the back of the net in his previous 28 appearances for the club, a record which has earned him a deal of criticism from the Barnsley faithful.

But while he says the fans have a right to voice their discontent, he hopes a performance in which he troubled John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho for 90 minutes will appease them.

He told Goals on Sunday: "I've had some stick from the fans and that's fair enough. They pay their money to get into the ground and they're entitled to their opinions. I'm big enough and professional enough to deal with that.

"Hopefully that performance and that result will go a long way to turning them around.

"I didn't believe it myself when I heard it was my first goal in 29 games, but I have to say I didn't start many of those 29.

"You could never say it was comfortable against the likes of Carvalho and Terry, but we tried to go out there, impose ourselves on the game and we showed we could stand toe-to-toe with Chelsea."

Big things

Skipper Howard insists Odejayi just needed a bit of good fortune to turn his season around and is now tipping him to go on and achieve great things.

Howard said: "He's been unlucky. The big man has worked hard and when he's got his chances he's been in and done great for us. He just needed a bit of luck in front of goal.

"He's proved now what he's capable of, he's scored against two of the best centre-halves in world football, and we're expecting big things of him now."

Barnsley's triumph comes on the back of a remarkable fifth-round win over Liverpool and sets them up for a semi-final date at Wembley Stadium next month.

And Howard described the moments after the final whistle when he was mobbed by jubilant supporters - including a good friend of his.

"You can't describe the feeling," he said. "Everyone runs on the pitch and they start jumping on you.

"People were all over me, I couldn't get my breath and someone was trying to kiss me.

"One of my mates was on the pitch and I told him to get off before he got himself arrested!"

Anyone's trophy

Howard and Odejayi are now looking ahead to the semi-finals and are enjoying their status as the biggest giant-killers of the season.

But with only two Premier League teams left in the competition, they are aware that jokes about lifting the trophy are no longer as far-fetched as they once seemed.

Howard said: "We went to Anfield and won and we knew this was going to be another step up. We knew Chelsea would have to be not quite at their best and we'd have to be at our very best.

"But with the magic of the FA Cup we pulled off another big shock.

"We've knocked out Liverpool and Chelsea and it's anyone's competition now. We're not going to get carried away and say our name's on the trophy, but we're going to Wembley, it'll be even par and we'll give it our best shot.

"I don't think we'll ever have a better chance to get to the final and then go from there.

"We hope to get two visits to Wembley. We were messing about before the game and joking that if we did beat Chelsea after beating Liverpool then they should give us the medals now.

"If you beat them two you deserve it, but it's anyone's competition. It's brought the magic of the cup back and hopefully it's as exciting for everyone to watch as it was for us."