Billy Smith has dismissed talk of Ryman Division One South play-off heartache, insisting Tooting & Mitcham will cast aside last season's disappointment.
With the Terrors guaranteed a home draw in the play-offs, Smith's men have the perfect opportunity to go one better than the previous campaign, when they lost 2-0 to Hastings United in the final.
And the manager claimed his side would be able to draw on that experience.
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He said: "The majority of the squad went through that last season.
"There is no doubt the players will want to better what happened against Hastings.
"Rather than make them nervous, I think it will fire them up even more."
The Terrors came unstuck at the weekend, suffering a 4-1 defeat to Dulwich Hamlet.
Paul Vines grabbed an equaliser, but Tooting conceded three late goals to slip to a disappointing loss. However, Smith remained upbeat.
He said: "It might sound strange, but I still thought we played well.
"We could have been three or four goals up before they took the lead.
"Dulwich are a good side and could easily have been in the play-offs themselves."
Tooting will face either Metropolitan Police or Worthing in their play-offs semi-final. And Smith insists he has no favourite.
He added: "When you look at the league table, it has pretty much been the same teams at the top all season.
"If we are going to go up we will have to beat the best so I have no real preference.
"We will just go out looking to win every game and hope that is good enough."
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