CHARLTON player of the year Christian Dailly admitted the Addicks have been prepared for the prospect of competing in the play-offs for several weeks.

Dailly was named by the fans as their best performer of the campaign just over a week ago and has also served as vice-captain in the absence of skipper Nicky Bailey.

And although the Reds spent close to 15 minutes in second place during the game at Oldham, the veteran Scot confessed the fact automatic promotion was out of their hands had the squad fully expecting a play-off place at the final whistle.

He said: “We knew it was unlikely.

“I’d already set myself for a play-off game and I think everyone else had as well.

“We knew it was going to be highly unlikely for all those results to go our way so we’re upbeat, we won our game and we’re going into the play-offs in some decent form so we’ll see how it goes.

“Swindon are a good side and they’ve done fantastically well this year.

“I remember the first half away from home last time where we had a tough time of it and they could have been two or three up.

“We know how dangerous they are and it’s going to be a tough game going up there for the first leg.”

The centre-back, who arrived on a free transfer after leaving Rangers last summer, also had a lot of praise for Charlton’s cash-strapped campaign nonetheless resulting in a respectable fourth place finish.

“I don’t think we’re far away from our early season form, to be honest” said Dailly.

“During the season we obviously had a few injuries and suspensions and I also think the lack of players we had who had to be given a rest at some period probably.

“So little things went against us in spells and we just didn’t quite manage to get the couple more wins we probably needed.

“A couple of our draws that we had probably could have been wins or should have been, but that’s all.

“There’s never been a point in the season where we didn’t feel like we were in a decent position and we’ve been reasonably consistent.”

He added: “I think squad size obviously helps but I think the way our players have looked after themselves and conducted themselves this year has been excellent.

“It’s a credit to the staff here and the boys themselves how we’ve managed to keep these injuries to a minimum.

“Everybody’s dug in and we’re still in a good position, we’re right in there so we’re very positive.

“We’ve just done as well as we could do.

“The manager’s done a great job as in the summer he had about 14 players to play the games and we’ve got a lot of guys in on loan and they and the young lads have done great jobs for us this year.

“I think it was definitely possible for us to get those one or two extra results but for luck at times and we would have been there already but in saying that we’ve dug in all the way and we’ve finished where we deserve.”