Rovers crashed 2-1 at lowly Cheltenham in the last match of the regular season when a win would have guaranteed them a place in the Championship behind Swansea.

Nearest rivals Nottingham Forest held their nerve to beat Yeovil and condemn Doncaster to a play-off semi-final with Southend, whom they take on tonight in the first leg at Roots Hall.

And O'Driscoll refuses to accept his side, flattened by events at Whaddon Road, will not recover in time.

He said: "In football, as a player or as a manager, you deal with disappointment a lot more than you deal with success.

"Unless you are the top four in the Premier League that is – nobody gets that much success that often.

"We've put last week to bed – that was last week.

"It's been a good week in training, the weather has been good and the lads have seemed to enjoy themselves. We've got another opportunity now and not a lot of teams get the chance of having another opportunity."

Rovers could be boosted by the return of long-term injury victims Mark Wilson (groin), Adam Lockwood (foot) and Steve Roberts (knee), while midfielder Paul Green is expected to shake off an ankle injury.

Southend are boosted by the fact boss Steve Tilson will be back in the dugout after completing a two-game touchline ban.