Play-offs: The contenders to Walsall

The League One play-offs get under way on Saturday with Jon Whitney's Walsall's resuming their quest to reach the Championship when they meet Barnsley.

The Saddlers will take on Paul Heckingbottom's side over two legs in the hope of then facing either Bradford or Millwall in a show-piece final at Wembley.

Widely seen as a lottery, all four teams enter the competition believing they have what it takes to clinch a lucrative spot in English football's second tier. Here, Joseph Masi assess each team's chances.

Walsall (finished third)

For the majority of teams that finish in third place, entering the play-offs is somewhat of a disappointment having narrowly missed out on an automatic promotion place.

But the Saddlers' 5-0 thumping of Port Vale together, with impressive victories over Shrewsbury and Fleetwood means supporters accept Jon Whitney and his players couldn't have done any more.

Walsall now enter the knockout competition as the form side with five wins in the last seven games.

Boss Whitney, meanwhile, has won eight of his 12 games in charge since replacing the sacked Sean O'Driscoll, but the positives don't end there.

There is an assumption that the team who just misses out on automatic promotion also tends to fail in the play-offs.

In fact, 40 per cent of the teams that have finished in the top play-off place across all three divisions have gone on to win promotion.

Millwall (finished fourth)

Four straight victories saw Neil Harris' Lions finish the League One season in style and send out a warning to their promotion rivals.

After being relegated from the Championship last season and losing their identity under boss Ian Holloway, the primary aim for the club this season was to start being Millwall again.

Harris was appointed boss having bagged 138 goals for the club and immediately got the team playing back at a high tempo.

The manager can also call on one of the most prolific strike partnerships in the division, with Lee Gregory having netted 25 times and Steve Morison on 18 occasions this season.

Bradford (finished fifth)

Arguably the team that strikes the most fear into Walsall fans, the Bantams hammered Jon Whitney's side 4-0 at Valley Parade back on April 23.

Set up in a completely different style to the Saddlers, Phil Parkinson's outfit are direct and often rely on the physical presence of a target man.

That man was James Hanson when the two teams met last month, with the giant striker grabbing a 15-minute hat-trick on the day.

Bradford's team is also heavily influenced by its loan stars with Wolves midfielder Lee Evans and West Ham's Josh Cullen complementing each other well in the middle of the park.

On-loan Preston winger Kyel Reid adds pace to the side.

Barnsley (finished sixth)

Bottom of the table at the beginning of December, Barnsley have performed a minor miracle to clinch the final play-off spot.

They have done it despite the loss of manager Lee Johnson, who jumped ship halfway through their upturn in form to join Bristol City.

Now the Tykes are calling on the experience of caretaker boss Paul Heckingbottom, who won promotion from this level in his playing days at Oakwell.

Unbeaten in their last six, Barnsley secured their place in the play-offs by beating champions Wigan on the final day.

Heckingbottom has stuck with a traditional 4-4-2 formation that aims to get two strikers and two wingers causing havoc.

Key to their hopes will be the form of striker Sam Winnall who has scored 22 goals this season. In midfield, 10-goal Conor Hourihane pulls the strings.