MARK Cooper is hoping to ease the weight of expectation from his player’s shoulders ahead of Swindon Town’s winner-takes-all League One play-off final with Preston North End.

At the start of the season few would have bet on Cooper leading out his time at Wembley with a place in the Championship on the line. Perhaps it is why Town have played with such freedom all season.

The underdog card has allowed the County Ground chief to keep a lid on expectation, refusing to look beyond the next game, often boring members of the local media into submission. It worked a treat in the play-off semi-final against Sheffield United. Cooper insisted the Blades were the team with more to lose and, after a ding-dong battle for the ages, they did.

It would be hard to argue Nigel Clough’s side bowed under the weight of expectation, after all they did score five goals at the County Ground. However, the effects of Cooper’s words might well have played a bigger part in putting his own players at ease as they responded to all the challenges over those two legs and played their best football in months.

Ahead of the biggest game of the season, at one of the grandest stages in world football, the Town manager is hoping to repeat the trick.

“I don’t think there is any expectation on us, Preston are the big favourites,” Cooper tells the Advertiser with an assured clarity.

“They have a pressure on them. They have to get promoted because of the size of their club and the money they can pay.

“Whereas for us it is a remarkable achievement and we want to go and finish it off. There’s no pressure on us, none at all. We’re just going to go and show everybody what we’re about, to perform.

“I’m feeling good, looking forward to the game. Of course we’re excited, a little bit anxious, it’s looming large now and it’s going to be on us before we know it.

“It’s important that you stress that it’s all about concentrating on the game, not the occasion and what’s going on around you.

“It’s not about the crowd and the fans, it’s about focusing on the game.

“It’s a real young squad, we’ve only got Andy Williams and Sam Ricketts (with any experience) and the rest are babies. Sometimes that can be a good thing – that they’re not worried too much about it. With this group I don’t see them worrying anything.”

Of course there were frailties in the semi-final displays. Conceding six goals in two legs does not inspire confidence in Town’s defensive abilities, but there are caveats.

Conceding just the single goal at Bramall Lane tells you Swindon can apply themselves in defence. The manager knows his team must improve in that regard at Wembley, but believes his side cannot afford to try and rein in their instincts for expansive football too much.

“We have to marry defence and attack,” Cooper added.

“We have to be a bit more mature and selective about when we go forward and defend at times because of the massive threats that Preston have got in (Joe) Garner and (Jermaine) Beckford.

“It’ll be about us controlling possession which means we have to do less defending. There are going to be times in the game where we’re going to have to defend and defend well against them.

“We have to stick to our footballing principles. We’re far less effective if we try and defend.”

That is the message for the fans, expect what Swindon have been doing all season, attractive attacking football. Cooper promises any potential failure will not come for lack of trying.

He said: “Promotion would be a fantastic for me personally. For the players and the club to win it would be a brilliant achievement, we’re going to give it everything we’ve got to try and get there.”