Sam Saunders admits he snubbed the chance to sit on the bench for Brentford in the Championship play-off semi-finals in order to chase a day at Wembley with Wycombe.

The midfielder’s loan deal expired after Saturday’s match against Northampton and Saunders had the opportunity to return to his parent club as they bid to reach the Premier League.

But after getting a taste of first team action at Adams Park, where he’s made 11 appearances since signing in February, the 31-year-old knew which play-off campaign he wanted to be involved in.

“There were conversations with Brentford and my conversation with the gaffer at Brentford was me saying ‘I want to be playing’,” he said.

“We’re now in the crunch time of the season and it would look great, me sitting on the bench in a Championship semi-final but I wouldn’t be featuring as heavily as what I’d be featuring here.

“It was a tough decision because I could have gone there and sat on the bench and nicked 20 minutes here or there, or I could stay here and start games and hopefully get promoted.

“It was a difficult one but I decided to come back. I felt that I owed it to the boys to come and help them get promoted. That’s the objective, they’re a good bunch of lads here and they deserve promotion.”

Saunders has been to Wembley twice before, both with Brentford, although he is yet to make the long walk up to the royal box to collect a winner’s medal at the national stadium.

Carlisle United denied the midfielder from winning the Jonhnstone’s Paint Trophy final in 2011 before Yeovil beat the Bees in the 2013 League One play-off final.

Saunders said: “I’m lucky enough to have been there before a few times although I’ve lost both times, so it would be nice to make it third time lucky.

“They’re great days and good occasions but they’re only good occasions if you win. First and foremost we’ve got to look at Plymouth because we’ve got two tough games there.

“We know how good they are at home and how good their defensive record is, so it’s going to be a very tough game and arguably the toughest out of the three [other teams in the play-offs].”

The former Dagenham and Redbridge player has missed Wanderers’ last two game through injury but he is hopeful of starting against the Pilgrims after returning to Brentford for ten days of treatment.

Saunders admits sitting out games against Morecambe and Northampton was “frustrating” but he feels he is in good shape to help Wycombe in their quest to reach Wembley.

“I feel like people, in glimpses, have seen what I can do,” he said.

“It’s nice to be getting a run of games. I’ve played more games in two months than I’ve played in the last two years. I’m still not 100 per cent where I want to be but there are signs that I’m getting back to where I was before my injury.

“I’ll get these games in, have a good pre-season next year and get back to where I was before I got injured.

“The [Wycombe] fans seem to have liked what they’ve seen so far and hopefully I can produce a bit more in the next few games.”