SAM Saunders insists Brentford are ready to grab a second shot at promotion with both hands.
The Bees missed out on a top-two finish in heartbreaking fashion against Doncaster at the weekend, wasting an injury-time penalty before Rovers broke away to snatch victory and automatic promotion at Brentford's expense.
Uwe Rosler's side finished third in the table and now face a two-legged play-off semi-final against Swindon Town.
But Saunders says the Bees are spurred on by Saturday's gut-wrenching loss.
He said: “We had a taste of hurt against Doncaster and we want to make sure no one feels that again.
“We would feel even worse if we had lost in the play-offs.
“We've been given a second bite of the cherry – either we use it or it will take us another season.
“The dust has settled and we realise we've still got a great opportunity to get promotion, but we know it's not going to be easy.”
Brentford have already beaten Swindon twice already this season, with Saunders on the scoresheet in the 2-1 victory over the Robins at Griffin Park last month.
However, he insists those wins will count for nothing ahead of two games in three days against Town over the Bank Holiday weekend.
“In these pressure-cooker situations it's about who can handle the heat, keep their heads and make the right decisions,” said Saunders.
“We have a young team and hopefully we have learned from Saturday. The lads have come on leaps and bounds this season. It wouldn't surprise me if they did that again over the next three weeks.
“We have achieved so far what we set out to do at the beginning of the season, which was to get into the play-offs. We hoped we could sneak in, but we've done it at a canter.
“To finish third in the league is no fluke, we're up there on merit. It's no accident.
“Swindon are a good team. We've showed what we can do already and they will be worried.
“But's it's a fresh page. We have beaten them, although it means nothing this time around.
“Those games have gone. It's a couple of months since we last played them and it's a completely different scenario.”
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