MARK Hughes was the man on the spot when Stanley needed a goal to bag a crucial win at Wycombe two weeks ago.

Now he wants to be in the right place for a play-off triumph.

The 29-year-old's strike at Adams Park could have sent the Reds up, but results for Oxford and Bristol Rovers didn't go their way.

Action elsewhere was unkind again last weekend, but Hughes is determined to lift the mood before kick-off at Kingsmeadow on Saturday night.

He said: "Saturday was a dagger in the heart and it’s been a long old week, but now we just want the game to come.

"I think we possibly needed a couple of days because it was a tough weekend.

"But we put it to bed and we have two really big games coming up and the chance to get to Wembley, which is something that probably only Scott Brown has done before in this squad.

"Last week was last week. We had a chance and we didn't take it, but we get another chance to put it right now with these two games.

"We’ve taken the hurt from last week, bottled it up and hopefully we never have that feeling again because it wasn’t nice.

"We get another bite at the cherry, which a lot of people don’t, and we’ll stick together and try to take the chance.”

The centre-back has some miles on the clock thanks to spells with Bury, Walsall, Stevenage, Morecambe and Australian side North Queensland Fury, so he knows the vital role the experienced players will have in trying to get Stanley across the line.

He added: "This might be the week when the young lads need a bit of experience.

"There’s experience in there in Anthony Barry, Andy Procter and Scotty Brown, who have all been through lots.

"Anthony Barry said after the game on Saturday that there’s no better way to go up than through the play-offs, and that’s true.

"We’ve still got a great chance to go up, a great chance to play at Wembley and we have to get the basics right."