Wycombe Wanderers were beaten by Charlton Athletic in their League One play-off semi-final on Thursday night.

Former Sunderland coach Mike Dodds has vowed to “use this pain as fuel” after his Wycombe Wanderers side missed out on a place in the League One play-off final on Thursday evening.

The 38-year-old left Wearside earlier in the season to take on the top job at Adams Park, and has been embroiled in a promotion battle ever since. A late slump in form caused Wanderers to drop out of contention for the automatic places, however, and following a fifth-placed finish, Dodds and his squad came up against Charlton Athletic in the semi-finals.

A 0-0 stalemate last week set-up a precariously-balanced second leg at The Valley, and the tie was ultimately decided by an 81st minute strike for the Addicks from Matt Godden.

What did Mike Dodds say after Wycombe Wanderers’ play-off heartache?

Speaking at full-time, a disappointed Dodds said: “I knew coming into the second leg it would be decided by a moment, and sadly for me, I’m the one who didn’t get that moment. Both legs were going to be decided by one moment, and I’m not going to point fingers at anyone from my team, as I felt they gave everything. We just didn’t take our moment, and they had one they took.

“It is a harsh lesson in football, and for me, it is a quick lesson to learn for the responsibilities in this role. I told the players [at full time] that there was nothing I could say to change the mood. We will use this pain as fuel for next season, and we will come back a much better version as we want to get out of this league.”

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The ex-Sunderland man added: “It is disappointing. They have given everything for this club this season, so once the dust settles, we will look back at what has been an incredible season.

“There is a lot of emotion at the moment to reflect on anything, but we will look at the things we have done well and not done well. There will also be a period of why we fell short, and we’ll use the summer to do that. It has been a record-breaking year for the football club for points, but our ambitions are much bigger than that.

“We wanted to get promoted, so we can’t celebrate coming fifth and losing the semi-finals of the play-offs. We have to change the culture a little bit. I unfortunately haven’t been able to give the fans success right now, but I am confident I will bring that to this football. These are the ambitions for myself and the ownership group.”

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