Phil Brown wants the character in his Hull squad to come to the fore duringtomorrow's Coca-Cola Championship play-off semi-final first leg at Watford.
The Tigers narrowly missed out on automatic promotion and head to Vicarage Road desperate not to let a remarkable season end in further heartbreak.
Brown helped stave off the threat of relegation last season and has transformed the fortunes of the
club by masterminded a third place finish.
Adrian Boothroyd's out-of-sorts Hornets, who have won one of their last 14 games, stand between Hull and a trip to Wembley later this month.
And Brown can draw on plenty of first-hand experience of the agony and ecstasy of the play-offs, both as a player with Blackpool and Bolton and as a coach with the Trotters.
"Strength of character is now important," said Brown. "When the going is tough your characters stand up and are counted, and I think we've got enough strength of character in our changing room.
"It's never over in play-offs. I was beaten 3-0 at home by Bradford (in May 1996 while playing for Blackpool) having beaten Bradford 2-0 at Valley Parade.
"I've been to Wembley and been beaten in the final, I've been to Wembley and won in the final.
"I've been to Cardiff and won in the final and been beaten in the semi-final as a coach.
"There's a lot of experience there but what it counts for on Sunday is nothing really. It's all to do with relaxing the players and getting them to focus on the job in hand."
The full article contains 274 words and appears in EP Leeds First & County newspaper.
