"OUR whole season rests on Sunday – all the hard work goes down the drain if we don't turn this one around."
Ian Miller is as desperate as anyone to overturn Grimsby Town's Conference play-off semi-final deficit this weekend.
The centre-half was unfortunate to deflect home Newport County's 'winning' goal at Blundell Park in Wednesday evening's first leg.
But, despite trailing by that solitary 89th minute sucker punch ahead of the second encounter at Rodney Parade, Miller and co are refusing to throw in the towel on their Football League dream.
"We don't want to be playing at Braintree again next season – no disrespect to them or anyone else in this division," the 29-year-old told the Telegraph.
"We want to go into the league, draw big crowds and enjoy testing ourselves at a higher level every week.
"Everyone in our dressing room is desperate to go up because you get bigger crowds and huge matches like these play-offs every week.
"So our whole season rests on turning it around on Sunday.
"We've worked so hard this campaign and dug out results in tough circumstances, which all goes down the drain if we don't turn this one around.
"It's a big ask but we've got the right characters in our squad."
The former Darlington defender insists that the Mariners' enviable away record during the regular season – no one lost fewer games in the Conference – also provides grounds for optimism.
"We always seem to play better away from home and hopefully that comes to fruition at their place," he added. "Our crowd were magnificent on Wednesday night and we know they'll make themselves heard at Newport on Sunday.
"We're only 1-0 down in the tie and we'll remain positive until the final whistle at their place.
"It would be helpful if we got the first goal. Either way, we go there full of anticipation, determined to turn the tie on its head."
