League one play-offs

IF captain Jonathan Douglas needs any more inspiration as Leeds look to earn a trip to Wembley next week, it comes with the memory of two years ago.

The Republic of International was in the United side well beaten by Watford in the Championship final at the Millennium Stadium and he cut a forlorn figure on the way home.

Travelling back to the Manchester area with team-mate David Healy, Douglas stopped off at a service station about 30 miles outside Cardiff and the pair looked like the weight of the world was resting on their shoulders.

Healy has since left Elland Road for the Premier League and Fulham, but Douglas remains and has a chance to banish those play-off memories forever.

He said: "That trip home from Cardiff was one I did not enjoy. I had to go separately from the team because I was getting married (soon after), which was another weight on my shoulders!

"A play-off final was a good game to be involved in but very disappointing to lose. Getting married probably took it (defeat) off my mind, without it then I would have been cut-up.

"It was a difficult time for everyone. We knew a lot of those players would be leaving and changes would be made."

Just being involved in this season's play-off semi-finals, where United will host Carlisle on Monday before travelling to Cumbria four nights later, is a bonus for Douglas.

He was told after being stretchered off the field in a 1-1 draw at Walsall in mid-December that his campaign was over, only to defy the medics and return to the first team in March.

Now, with eight games under his belt, Douglas is feeling as fit as ever. He said: "All this a bonus. I did think it was my season finished. I injured the same knee about five years ago and was out for nine months. I knew it was not as serious, but it was still serious. I played in the Championship and a couple of games in the Premiership with Blackburn, so to not be able to take this club forward would have been disappointing."

If United do go on to clinch promotion via the play-offs, it will end a season that began in traumatic fashion with a 15-point deduction on a high that few could have envisaged.

For Douglas, it has been the continuation of an incredibly eventful time at Elland Road after being signed initially on loan by Kevin Blackwell in the first week of the 2005-06 campaign. He said: "I have been here three years and seen three or four managers and about 25-30 players. But now we have a settled squad and we are enjoying playing together, as the results prove. It has been a bit traumatic. I was on loan when we got to the play-off final (in 2006), then signed and we got relegated. It has been an emotional rollercoaster.

"But we have proved this season what we are capable of even though it is not finished yet.

"We knew with the 15 points taken away that we had a massive hill to climb. We have climbed it, but we are not at the top yet.

"Hopefully, on May 25 (the day of the League One final) we will have reached the peak."