CHARLTON full-back Fraser Richardson is desperate to avoid an unwanted hat-trick as they face Town over two legs for a place in the League One play-off final.

The sides meet at the County Ground tonight before going head to head again at The Valley on Monday evening, and Richardson has plenty of unwanted memories from the play-offs.

He endured agony over the past two seasons with Leeds, firstly at Wembley against Doncaster in 2008 before missing out in the semi-finals at the hands of Millwall last year.

But the 27-year-old is not thinking about what’s gone before, and is determined to get his side into the Championship.

“It’s a time to look forward,” said Richardson. “We have to see it as another chance to get promotion. We’ve missed out on going up automatically by a couple of points but we’ve had a good year and we need to carry the focus on for a few extra weeks.

“The games are televised and there’s more interest so there’s an extra pressure put on us, but it’s important not to think about that and take the games one at a time. We’re thoroughly looking forward to them.

“If you go to Wembley it’s only a good day if you win and it’s absolutely shocking if you lose, for both the players and the fans. It’s a nervous day for everyone and I know that things can go wrong.

“The defeats with Leeds are not things I can totally forget because those experiences stay with you throughout your career. But I try to put it to the back of my mind and look forward to doing it this time with Charlton.

“It’s going to be touch and go between us and Swindon. At their place neither team will want to concede early but we’ve got to be positive and try to get a result. If we do that it will put us in a great position going into Monday night’s game at The Valley.”

Meanwhile, Addicks central defender Christian Dailly believes the two draws between the sides this season will have no bearing on the outcome of the semi-final.

A couple of injury-time goals salvaged a share of the spoils for Charlton in both games, but former West Ham man Dailly believes his teammates are hitting form at just the right time.

“I don’t think the two games we’ve already played will have any bearing on these ones,” said the former Scottish international.

“But we know they are a good side and they’ve done fantastically well this year. In the first half at their place they gave us a right tough time and they could have been 2-0 or 3-0 up, so we know how dangerous they are.

“We are not far away from recapturing our early-season form.

“We had a few injuries and suspensions and the lack of squad numbers probably went against us for a while.

“But we’re hitting the play-offs on a pretty good run. It won’t do us any harm to be playing as we are. There’s no doubt the two games will be difficult but we’re in a decent position.”