KEVIN Davies says the painful memory of Wanderers' FA Cup semi-final defeat at Wembley is driving him on ahead of Sunday's League One play-off final.

Now with Preston North End, the former Whites skipper is preparing for another Wembley day out as the Lilywhites look to beat Swindon and join Bolton in next season's Championship.

And despite experiencing highs at the national stadium in his younger days with Chesterfield – a Division Three play-off final win against Bury in 1995 – and an England cap against Montenegro in 2010, it is the rock-bottom low of the Whites' 5-0 defeat to Stoke a year later that is still etched in the 38-year-old's memory.

Davies labels that day in April 2011 as one of the biggest lows in his career – not just his 10 years with Wanderers.

And he is thankful to have a chance to replace that memory with another Wembley highlight in the twilight of his career.

"There was huge disappointment with Bolton in the semi-final and it drives me on for the weekend," he told The Bolton News.

"It was one of the toughest days in my career – a horrible feeling I will never forget.

"We went down a few days before with Owen Coyle because he wanted to get the players used to the environment beforehand.

"We had a walk around the stadium to try to settle people down a bit.

"But on the day it was tough to take and hard to recover from because Wembley is a place for winners and not nice for losers.

"I had the elation of going there and getting on to play for England a year earlier but that semi-final was heartbreaking.

"But there have been some good highs as well as the big low with Bolton.

"I got promotion with Chesterfield to Division Two in 1995.

"I played every game that year but fell ill the week of the final and lost about a stone.

"I did a fitness test with John Duncan (Spireites boss) but didn’t feel I had enough energy to start the game.

"I came on with five minutes to go and we ended up winning the game 2-0.

"I still remember that now – it was such a great occasion.

"Walking out at Wembley and the old twin towers – it was something I always dreamed of as a kid.

"To get there was amazing and I enjoyed the whole build-up and winning.

"In terms of winning things, of course I would like to have won a few more finals.

"I have had near-misses in my career but I am fortunate to have this opportunity now to create a good memory and cancel out that Bolton defeat."

As one of the old heads in a Preston team that also includes recently-released Wanderers striker Jermaine Beckford, Davies has been impressed with the response to missing out on automatic promotion on the final day when North End lost 1-0 at Colchester and MK Dons pipped them to second spot.

Three goals from Beckford saw them overcome Chesterfield 4-0 in the two-legged semi-final to set up this weekend's showdown with Swindon and his former Whites team-mate Sam Ricketts.

Davies said: "We had a lot of disappointment when we could have gone up automatically.

"That game at Colchester – the feeling afterwards was up there with the Bolton semi-final defeat.

"It was the quietest journey home and everyone was so down on the long journey back.

"I wondered if we could recover. I did worry for us.

"We responded really well so there is a lot of belief that we can go there and get the job done.

"We have seen a lot of teams celebrate over the last couple of years and we want to be the ones doing it on Sunday.

"It is a great opportunity for us.

"We played Swindon three weeks ago and I saw Sam then.

"He is a top lad and a good pro who has made a good career for himself.

"I told him last time I didn’t want to see him again this season but that’s going to happen now.

"It will be nice to see him down there but hopefully after the game I will be the one smiling."