STILL haunted by his famous Wembley miss, Dean Holdsworth is convinced the fates that once conspired against him will be on his side on May 28 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

All season long, the Wanderers' striker has been confident of erasing the memory of last year's dramatic FA Cup semi-final when, deep into injury time after hitting the post with a free kick, he missed a sitter that left Aston Villa to salvage victory in a penalty shoot-out and earned him an unwanted place in Bolton folklore.

Now he believes he is destined to be a hero in the play-offs.

"Unfortunately, everyone still seems to make an issue of the chance I had at Wembley," he acknowledges. "There's been a lot of good things and they seem to forget that I had to get up and take a penalty after that. Some people only seem to remember the bad things.

"But I've felt all along that there is something here for me to erase that.

"And I don't think it's just by scoring goals ... I think there's going to be something good at the end of this season for me.

"I'm hoping to put things right and I think there's a little bit of fate involved somewhere along the line!"

But before they can even start thinking about Cardiff, Wanderers must win a two-leg tussle against West Brom, the team that finished 13 points behind them in the League! Starting at the Hawthorns tomorrow they need to show they have not been affected by the bitter disappointment of being beaten by Blackburn in the race for automatic promotion.

"We've had to put that behind us and be realistic," Holdsworth says. "We want another three weeks of the season and, if we get that, we'll be at the Millennium Stadium and giving ourselves every opportunity of getting into the Premier League.

"We've had a tough and rough old season and to be 13 points clear it's a shame it hasn't happened for us. But let's get real, train hard, be focused and just do it. We've got to be prepared mentally and we've got to be right.

"The season hasn't finished for us yet. Personally I'm going into tomorrow's game full of confidence and, hopefully, getting some more goals. I feel good at the moment and I want to stay that way."

If Wanderers don't get back in the Premiership at this, the third time of asking, they will look back on a cartload of home points they squandered but, after spending 16 weeks of the season in runners-up spot and boasting a bevvy of players with top flight experience, they are unquestionably the most feared of the play-off quartet.

Holdsworth is confident but the memory of three semi-final defeats last season prevents him being complacent.

"They (West Brom) will be more worried about us than we are of them," he claims, "and they should be. They have a lot to fear, even though they did get a victory against us here in the League. But it's still all about who does well on each of the days and who adjusts best to the two game scenario.

"It can go wrong if you don't perform but we've got a good squad and it's been a pleasure playing with them. The lads have been magnificent - they've worked hard, everyone - the manager, Phil Brown, everyone involved at the club and in that respect we deserve to be going into the Premier League with the sort of form we've shown.

"Looking at the capabilities of this club, we need to be playing at a higher level.

"The problem this season has been that in 95 per cent of the games when we slipped up at home we were in winning positions. So for 95 per cent we've done everything right. It was just that little five per cent ... you can't put your finger on it because obviously we'd have erased it earlier.

"But we've created a club record with 14 away wins and that's fantastic and we put that little home voodoo to bed with the Norwich win.

"Sometimes we just sat back and thought we were in a good position. We were but we thought we could defend and hold on - and obviously that didn't happen. When it happens more than once, a little bit of fear factor comes in and you start doing the wrong things.

"It wasn't that we didn't have the ability to win, we just tended to change our style a little bit. But, hopefully that's behind us now."

Holdsworth goes into the play-offs arguably in the best form of his career, certainly at his best since his record-breaking £3.5 million move from Wimbledon in October 1997.

Wanderers were in the top flight then and had high hopes of survival but relegation on the last day of the season was a bitter pill and successive play-off failures have been even harder to take. Now Holdsworth is confident that, despite having sold some of their best talent, Wanderers are well-fixed to make it third time lucky.

"We've got more than just a chance of getting into the Premier League this year," he says. "We just have to go out and do it.

"The confidence comes from the manager who drums it into the lads that they are all excellent players. They've got good strengths - that's why they've been picked and I'm sure the first 11 that goes out there tomorrow will be full of confidence.

"The sort of football we've played this year is the best since I came here and the players we've got are outstanding.

"Colin Hendry and Gudni Bergsson give us confidence. I'm glad I'm playing with them and not against them because I've played against both of them over the years. And in people like Robbie Elliott we've got Premier League players who have played there and been outstanding at their clubs.

"We should all take strength from them and, hopefully, they'll think they've got me in front of them who is capable of scoring goals with Michael Ricketts."