FORMER Accrington Stanley favourite Luke Joyce believes the incentive of a Wembley final can inspire John Coleman’s side to a play-off victory against AFC Wimbledon.

Joyce, who left the club last summer to join Carlisle United, admits it will be tough for the Reds to bounce back from Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Stevenage which saw them pipped to automatic promotion by Bristol Rovers.

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But the 28-year-old, who made more than 250 appearances for Stanley, believes the prospect of playing at the home of football, coupled with previous play-off experience, can secure a place in League One.

The Reds have only played in one previous play-off campaign, ironically against Stevenage in 2011, and Joyce, who played in that 3-0 aggregate defeat, insists that Coleman and his assistant Jimmy Bell will have learned from that experience as they attempt to mastermind a way past AFC Wimbledon.

“John and Jimmy have that experience of the play-off game against Stevenage and there are a few players still there who played in that game so that will help,” said Joyce.

“They have been in these situations before and hopefully that can help them.

“That Stevenage game was a bit of a disaster for us. We went into it on the back of an unbelievable run, not too dissimilar to what Stanley have done this season.

“We certainly went into it thinking we were going to win the game but Stevenage were a tough proposition. They were a big side and had a lot of physical players and they did a job on us.

“I think you could say we froze a little bit on the occasion and in front of the cameras. But hopefully the experienced lads who were there can speak to the younger ones and learn from that experience.”

And the prospect of the club playing at Wembley for the first time in its history is another reason why Joyce is backing the Reds to get the better of Wimbledon when the teams meet at Kingsmeadow (7.30pm) on Saturday and the Wham Stadium on Wednesday (7.45pm).

“I don’t think there is a bigger incentive for a player to go into a game knowing that if you win it you will be playing at Wembley,” said Joyce.

“I don’t think an Accrington team has played at Wembley before and it would be great for the fans if they could go and beat Wimbledon and then win promotion in the final.

“It was great to see the ground so full on Saturday with the sell-out and hopefully they can get up through the play-offs.

“They have got to believe they can do it now and go into the semi-finals with plenty of confidence.

“I think John and Jimmy and some of the players have already said now that it will be out of the players’ system and that they will be focused.”

Joyce was playing for Carlisle at Notts County last weekend and learned of Stanley’s heartache in the Meadow Lane dressing room after the game.

And he admits that Bristol Rovers’ last-minute winner which consigned the Reds to the play-offs took some of the gloss of the Cumbrians’ 5-0 win.

“I was playing on Saturday for Carlisle and as soon as I got back in the dressing room it was the first thing I was looking for,” added Joyce.

“I wanted to know straight away how they had got on, fully expecting them to have won. I couldn’t believe it when I saw what had happened, especially considering they hadn’t scored and they had been scoring so many goals at home this season.

“Stanley have had such a fantastic season that they deserve to go up. I think I have seen more tweets about Stanley in the last few days then I did in all my time playing there.

“I hope they can do it through the play offs now.”