Centre-half eager to put previous Wembley misery behind him

Mark Ellis says the Crewe Alexandra dressing room is brimming with confidence as we head into tomorrow’s Wembley final against Southend United. The Alex start as favourites to lift the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy after clinching promotion to a higher league last season after ironically overcoming Southend in the semi-final, but Ellis says those previous meetings are all in the past now.

Mark, who will be hoping it will be third time lucky for him this weekend after twice being left out of previous finals at Torquay said: “The lads are confident and looking forward to the game now. It has been building up gradually because we have had a fair few league games in between, but we have been able to focus on the final since Preston on Monday and it is exciting for everyone.

“We had a great win against Preston and go into the final full of confidence. I have never had the chance to play at Wembley, so I am hoping it will finally happen for me on Sunday. You never know when you will get the chance to play there and some players are in their 30s and never been there.

“We have taken the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy seriously from the first round and Steve always said he would pick a strong team to try and reach the final. We have done that, worked hard and are fortunate to be there.

“We know it will be a tough game against Southend. They may be a division below but they only narrowly missed out on promotion and of course lost to us in the play-offs.

Mark added: “We never take anything for granted and we know how difficult it is going to be, but we are looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd, like we did at Coventry and making sure we win the game.”