FORMER favourite Micky Hazard reckons Monday night’s unforgettable clash against Sheffield United will give Swindon Town the resolve to succeed in the League One play-off final.

Hazard knows all about Swindon rollercoaster play-off games, having helped them win a place in the Premiership with a 4-3 win over Leicester City in 1993.

After watching Mark Cooper’s side survive the ultimate scare at the County Ground, Hazard thinks Town will be better equipped than ever to beat Preston on May 24 and secure promotion.

“For it to finish 5-5 was quite staggering,” said Hazard, who spent three years at Town in the early 90s.

“The players will have gone to hell and back, through every single different emotion it’s possible to experience.

“To be home and dry with three or four minutes to go and still have Sheffield United come back at them and get that fifth goal, I can’t imagine what they were thinking.

“But they have been through it and it will stand them in good stead for Wembley.

“They will gain confidence from it but will also have learned there are a few things they need to put right too because they can’t concede goals like that at Wembley.

“In a way, it will be a good thing. It didn’t affect the end result and they are at Wembley but now they know they aren’t quite right as they conceded five goals.

“They will address that problem before Wembley and hopefully keep a clean sheet.”

The free-flowing football produced by Cooper’s current crop harks back to Hazard’s heyday at the County Ground, first under Ossie Ardiles and then Glenn Hoddle.

Hazard is a big fan of the attacking philosophy currently on display and has little doubt it can be the foundations for success.

“If they can win at Wembley they will go down in history as one of the Swindon teams to get promoted,” added Hazard, now 55.

“I sincerely pray from the bottom of my heart they do go up because it’s an absolutely smashing club.

“The good reports I have read and heard say they play like the teams Ossie and Glenn had.

“For me, it’s a load of codswallop when people say you can’t do it lower down the leagues. You can play the beautiful game anywhere you want to play it.

“In the long term that’s the route to success rather than the up-and-under game. The up-and-under game can only take you so far, all the teams at the very top play the beautiful game.

“It’s pleasing to know they are playing this really nice, flowing, attacking game, because ultimately that will help them at the next level.

“As long as they keep developing it for the highest level they are at, it will take them higher and higher. That’s the way back for them.”