I THINK the play-offs had just come into being so everybody was still trying to get their head around the fact that they finished in a certain position but they had to go into the play-offs.

We had some tough games with Gillingham in the past.

I remember going there on the night and I thought that we were the better team and yet they scored from a free-kick, which I think deflected off the wall.

We came away 1-0 down and angry that we hadn’t at least drawn if not won it.

You sort of get feelings that this is going to be your chance, and is that it gone?

We played them again, a night game at home, and very early on they scored from a shot from outside the box which went into the top corner and it was like blinking-heck.

As with the play-offs now, the away goals didn’t count as double and we got it back and I think Charlie Henry scored the second goal which took it to the third game, which had never been done before.

We went to Selhurst Park and over the two ties we were very confident that we could win, because I felt we had been the better team and bizarrely we didn’t play that well but still won 2-0.

There was the joke that we were getting encouraged with bonuses and we would always divvy them up and share them out and just before we went out Lou Macari said that the man of the match gets a car.

So we all looked at each other and I said well you can have the front wheel, I will have the steering will and so on.

So we went out joking and we didn’t play particularly well, but over the course of the three ties I feel we deserved to win.

It is very hard because you get to a point of the season where you are running on empty.

Emotionally and therefore physically you have hit a wall and yet you know that you have the final, which for us it turned out three games.

It is lucky that muscles have memories because there are times when you are exhausted but we dug in and the feeling when you win through to the next league is one of tired elation.

You really want to jump up and down but you really have nothing.

You can’t celebrate truly it dawns on you in the following weeks.

You just sit down as happy as anything and you go out and see the fans, who have been with you the whole season.