DAGGERS captain Mark Arber needs little more than this succinct statement to add to his rally cry in the changing rooms this time next week when he tells his men: "We can be legends," writes Jackie Bass.

Concise and to the point, the Daggers captain knows exactly what is at stake at the home of English football. A chance to reach yet another zenith. The opportunity to go down in history as the most successful Dagenham and Redbridge squad in history.

While some teams who have reached the play-off finals may have chosen to have a couple of days to wind down and spend a few cheeky days in the sun, Arber spent Friday at his parents' house in Essex going over a tape of the second leg of the semi-final. The consummate pro.

He said: "We didn't get back from Morecambe until 4.30am and Peterborough, where I live, was too far away, so I stayed down here and watched the game.

"It's not often that you are involved in such a big game on TV, so it's always nice to go back over it and see what the commentators say."

So having put the Morecambe game to bed, it's on to Rotherham. Reflection is one thing, but planning for the biggest game of your career is quite another. Luckily, no actually, it's not luck - it's dogged determination and hard graft, which sees a disciplined Daggers team ready for their final opponents.

"We've already played them twice this season so we'll know what to expect. As for what we've got, we'll have Paul Benson and Josh Scott who are on fire at the moment. On any given day we can beat anyone and we've always said that the only people who can beat us are ourselves.

"When you throw into the mix Danny Green, we know we've got goals all through the team. When you've got these big game players who are always capable of scoring, then you give yourself a real chance at winning games."

Following on from John Still's rousing post match press conference at Christie Park, it seems impossible to speak to any of his current crop of charges without them mentioning the team spirit at the moment. If ever there were a 12th man, it's now, and it's this unique camaraderie.

"It's the best team spirit I've ever had at a club. Unless you've worked at the club or seen us in action behind the scenes it's hard to explain what we have going on here.

"It's a special atmosphere. And it's not just the lads who are still here; I still speak to the lads who have left too. We have a saying here, "Once a Dagger, always a Dagger."

When discussing next Sundays massive encounter and what it means to him, Arber neatly sidesteps any personal praise and instead deftly deflects it back onto the club as a whole.

"It's the biggest day of the club's history, personal achievements aside. But to lead your team out as captain will be the proudest moment of my career. It's the sort of thing that you dream of as a kid. To be captain at Wembley, well, I just can't wait."

And in doing that, Arber is out to put to bed the demons from losing out on promotion with Barnet in 2000, under the stewardship of John Still, who had also suffered play off heartbreak with the same club in 1998. Then there's Josh Scott who was unable to play in Hayes and Yeading's Blue Square South play off final last year and Tony Roberts who was once under the impression he would never play League football again. Some misguided pessimists may say this is the unluckiest team ever, others, including Arber, believe this is a squad who are about to get their just rewards.

"People will choose to look into the game and past encounters, with omens and the like however they will. But there's history in every game, you can read into it however you chose. But history is there to be changed. It's also there to be made.

"We have a chance to be legends at this club, and whether you're a legend at a Premier League club or a non league club, you give yourselves the opportunity to go down in history in the eyes of your supporters. And that's what we'll be aiming to do next Sunday"

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