Wanderers are ready and raring to go in their play-off bid, insists play-maker Josh Sheehan.
An automatic promotion place just eluded the Whites, who must now tackle the play-off route to try and reach the Championship after finishing third in the League One table.
That attempt starts in the first leg of their semi-final at Barnsley tonight (Friday) with Sheehan and his team-mates fully focused on their new target after immediate promotion hopes were mathematically ended on the final day of the regular season last Saturday.
“It was probably a game or two before where it wasn't quite in our hands, so we've had a couple of weeks leading to this point to kind of half get over it,” said the Wanderers’ midfielder.
“We were disappointed because we believed we could have been in the top two. But we're confident going into this now. If we can turn up and show what we're about we're a confident group and we feel we can get the result.
“We have been working all week on our game plan, how we think they're going to approach it and how we're going to approach it, and we will be ready for Friday.
“As long as we go up you don't mind how you do it. Our goal at the start of the season was to get up and that's still the focus now.”
Sheehan is again likely to be a key man for the Whites as they look to go one better than last season’s play-off loss to the Tykes and reach the Wembley final.
This time Wanderers play the first leg away from home and Wanderers’ player of the year insists Ian Evatt’s men will attack the trip to Oakwell in a positive frame of mind on the back of a run of just one defeat in 12 games before the tie is finally settled back at Bolton next Tuesday night.
“They had the home advantage in the second one and they won that game last time,” Sheehan added. “But we go into every game as a club, as a team, as the management, wanting to win. I don't think you'll see us sit off and try and get a draw like some teams might do.
“I don't think you'll see that from us. We're going to give it everything. The form’s been okay. We would have liked to have turned a few draws into wins but if we can do that in the next few games it will be good enough.
“All our thought process this week has just been leading up to this single game on Friday and then we know when we come back on Tuesday the fans will be there and they will be as loud as they’ve probably ever have been to try and help us get over the line.”
Watch Josh's full pre-match interview on Wanderers TV HERE and read an in-depth feature on the Whites' Player of the Year in matchday programme The Wanderer next Tuesday night.