 | We don't have to play pretty football, we just have to play winning football |
Tommy Mooney says it is imperative Wycombe start their push for promotion with a weekend win at home to Walsall. Skipper Mooney still believes the third automatic promotion spot in League Two is up for grabs, but above all he knows momentum is crucial come April and May.
"You do everything you can to get third and if you fall short, which would suggest you're playing well, you go into the play-offs with confidence.
"We've got to build that up in the next 10 games," Mooney told BBC Sport.
Wycombe are seventh in the table, 10 points off third place.
The fact it is not seven points is a bone of contention with Mooney who is still disappointed by the surprise 3-0 defeat to bottom-of-the-table Torquay.
On the plus side is the fact results elsewhere went Wycombe's way last weekend, but that only increased the 35-year-old's frustration.
| Torquay bought us back down to earth but maybe that was the slap in the face that we needed |
"You come back in and find out that if we'd taken the points, which we expected to, we'd have been much closer to third and that makes it harder to swallow," he added.
"The first two places in the table are spoken for, but third's available.
"The teams from third down have to play each other over the coming weeks and when we play each other not everyone can win every game, so that third spot could be open as late as the final weekend.
"If we'd won at Torquay maybe a point would have been a good result against Walsall, but now we have to go and win. It is imperative we win, it is now a massive game."
As well as second-placed Walsall, Wanderers also have games against leaders Hartlepool, fellow promotion chasers MK Dons and fringe play-off candidates Peterborough, Shrewsbury and Darlington to come.
But Mooney is counting on his experience, and that of those around him, on helping the Chairboys chart a course through those tests and into League One.
This time 12 months ago, after sailing through the first half of the campaign, they began to irretrievably slow until they were sunk in the play-off semi-finals by eventual champions Cheltenham.
| THIS SEASON & LAST SEASON 2006/07: Hit top spot for one week only in mid September Been in the play-off places or better since the fifth round of matches in late August Have slipped from 3rd to 7th since November without ever climbing back up the table Beat Fulham and Charlton to reach Carling Cup semi-finals 2005/06: 15 weeks in top spot, including nine in a row, after 21 game unbeaten start to the season Were in the play-off places or better, for all but one week in early September, from the second round of fixtures Fell out of the automatic promotion places nine games from the end of the season Lost in play-off semi-finals |
"The difference between this season and last is that then we were up there to be shot at and threw it away - we can have no arguments about that," Mooney reflects.
"This year we are in a position where we can put in a real charge and my experience of the play-offs is that it's the team that goes into them with the confidence of winning that goes on to be successful.
"This time around we are in a position to do that, whereas last season we were in freefall. That is harder to stop than it is to get a charge on.
"And we know what it's all about as several of the lads were involved in the play-offs last season.
"There are others in the squad who have had play-off success and know what it's like to get promoted, so you'd hope the experience and disappointment of last season would stand us in good stead.
"But we can only utilise that experience if we start winning games and that means starting this Saturday - we can't leave it any later.
"Take Torquay aside and we've been playing very well for four or five games and were starting to believe we could go on this imaginary charge.
"The loss bought us back down to earth, but if you look at the positive side maybe that was the slap in the face that we needed.
"We can now realise we don't have to play pretty football, we just have to play winning football. With 10 games to go, winning football is what everybody wants."
On a personal level, Mooney is set to sit down with the club within the week to iron out a new contract having made the decision to carry on playing after 18 years in the game.
But even when discussing his own future, it is the fortunes of the club that soon come to the fore again.
"I'm looking after myself better at 35 than I did at 25 so I can see myself playing for another year," Mooney said.
"I've had two good years here and would like to be playing in the division above with Wycombe. Promotion would be a great way to start a new contract."
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