Millwall finished four points behind Burton Albion (who were promoted in second place) and six behind league winners Wigan Athletic.

Hammill scored his third semi-final goal in the 18th minute before Ashley Fletcher's second half strike extended Barnsley's aggregate lead to 5–0.

Tony McMahon put the home team in the lead with a penalty early in the first half but Lee Gregory equalised two minutes later.

Two further first-half goals, a header from Steve Morison and a free kick from Joe Martin, made the score 3–1 to Millwall.

Gregory's 34th minute strike gave Millwall the lead, but Bradford's Jamie Proctor scored on his second attempt to bring the leg level.

Bradford once again dominated possession but could not convert their limited chances and the match ended 1–1, ensuring Millwall of a 4–2 win on aggregate and progress to the play-off final.

[10][11] Barnsley had also already visited Wembley earlier in the season, with a 3–2 victory over Oxford United in the 2016 Football League Trophy Final.

[13] Winnall was Barnsley's highest scorer with 21 goals while Millwall's top marksman was Gregory, who was named in the League One team of the season, with 18.

[17][18] The referee for this season's play-off final was Stuart Attwell, with assistants Nigel Lugg and Rob Jones, while Stephen Martin acted as the fourth official.

[20] Both teams named an unchanged starting line-up from their semi-final second leg matches, but Millwall's Byron Webster did not complete the warm-up and was replaced by Tony Craig.

[23] Shane Ferguson was fouled by Barnsley's Josh Scowen but Mark Beevers headed the resulting free kick from Taylor wide of the post.

From the goal kick, Winnall's headed flick-on fell to Fletcher who ran into the box before shooting low past Archer to open the scoring.

On 19 minutes, Hammill doubled Barnsley's lead with a curling shot into the top corner of Millwall's goal from 25 yards (23 m).

Isgrove was then substituted by Marley Watkins before O'Brien's pass to Taylor ended in the latter's shot being saved by Davies.

"[26] Millwall's manager Neil Harris suggested that the loss of Webster in the warm-up was a contributing factor to their defeat: "it affected us mentally before the game.