GRIMSBY v COUNTY (Conference play-offs semi final first leg, tonight, KO 7.45)

NEWPORT County AFC defender Tony James has been through the agony and the ecstasy of the Conference play-offs and he’s happy to pass on his experiences to the rest of the Exiles squad.

County take on Grimsby Town in the first leg of their semi-final at Blundell Park tonight and James knows to expect the unexpected from the end of season shootout.

The 34-year-old suffered play-off heartache with Hereford United in 2004 after they had finished second behind champions Chester with 91 points.

And even when the Bulls beat Halifax Town 3-2 at Leicester’s Walkers Stadium in 2006 it was a bittersweet moment for James who was ruled out through injury.

“It was gutting for me, I’ve got to be honest,” said James. “But it was a lovely gesture from (captain) Tamika Mkandawire to lift the trophy together.

“It was a great day and the play-offs is a great way to go up.

“I’ve had a chat with one or two of the [County] lads who asked me about the play-offs and I tried to pass on my experiences,” he added.

“I’ve played in five play-offs campaigns and they’ve all been different. I’ve been in a team that wasn’t playing well and we turned it on for the play-offs and the opposite where we were flying and it didn’t quite work out, so you never know what will happen.”

James believes that County have the players to get past Grimsby and win promotion at Wembley come May 5.

“The big crowds add a different pressure to a usual league game but we will go at it all guns blazing because the prize at the end of it is amazing,” he said.

“The Football League is where we want to be and that’s what we’ve been striving for over the whole season. We are still a little disappointed as a group that we didn’t kick on and win the league but we are where we are and we’ve got another opportunity to get promoted and we want to take that.

“You do look back at certain games and think ‘what if’ but you can’t do anything about that now and we’re concentrating on securing another trip to Wembley.”

After captaining the side in Saturday’s 3-0 league defeat at Grimsby, James is likely to pass the armband back to David Pipe tonight and he insists that this match will be totally different.

“You can’t read too much into that game because both sides rested people and we had players coming back from injury and getting some time on the pitch,” he said.

“The big guns will be out now. Both clubs will play their strongest sides and we’ll go head to head.

“We’ve got a cracking away record and we want to be in with a shout come Sunday and then we’ll look forward to what will be a great occasion at Rodney Parade.”