Grayson out to end play-off woe

Grayson’s side bounced back from the shattering disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion to MK Dons on the final day by brushing aside Chesterfield 4-0 on aggregate in their semi-final.
But Preston will head for Wembley to take on Swindon on Sunday in the knowledge that the club has failed in all nine previous attempts to win promotion via the play-offs.
When asked for his message was to Lilywhites fans, Grayson said: “Enjoy it if you can!
“It’s easy to say that. I’ll be trying to do that as much as I can and I basically believe we will be the team which is successful.
“People will be looking at our play-off record, but records are there to be broken and hopefully this is our year when we can get back into the Championship, where we feel we deserve to be.”
Preston appeared on course for second place and automatic promotion behind champions Bristol City prior to the run-in.
But only four wins from their last 10 matches saw the Lancastrians overhauled by MK Dons.
Preston went down to a solitary 82nd-minute goal at Colchester on the last day while the Dons swept to a fifth straight win, 5-1 against Yeovil, to condemn Grayson’s side to their 10th play-off.
The Lilywhites’ most recent disappointment is fresh in the memory. They lost out to Rotherham in the semi-finals last season, but Grayson is confident of guiding his fourth club out of League One.
He led Blackpool to promotion via the play-offs in 2007, took Leeds up automatically in 2010 and won a play-off final penalty shootout with Huddersfield against Sheffield United in 2012.
“This would be up there with all my achievements,” he added.
“It’s a fantastic football club. I’ve been here nearly two and a half years now and it’s done everything it can to make me welcome and successful.
“It’s a club that has got everything in place for Championship football.
“The infrastructure, training ground, people behind the scenes, it’s debt-free and has fantastic support.
“All those things contribute to being a Championship team but we’ve got to get there, we have no given right because of these things off the pitch – we’ve got to deliver on the pitch.
“But there’s a lot of people who deserve to be in the Championship and hopefully we can give them that on Sunday evening.”