MATT Bloomfield is ready to go again after suffering the heartache of missing a penalty in last season’s play-off final at Wembley.

Along with Sam Wood he saw his penalty saved as Southend United broke Wanderers’ dream by winning the penalty shoot-out and consigning Wanderers to another season in League Two.

The script-writers could not have penned a crueller twist. Wanderers were leading the game going into the final 30 seconds of injury time in extra time only for Southend to pluck an equaliser from nowhere to take the tie into a penalty shoot-out kick roulette.

Then, they twisted the knife further as Bloomfield, the club’s longest serving player, saw his sport-kick saved in the final act of his testimonial season.

Now on the eve of the new season, Bloomfield has revealed the pain of that afternoon under Wembley’s giant arch and how he carried it around this summer.

He said: “It hurt more than a lot of things that have happened in my life. It hurt more than anything that’s happened in my football career and it took me a good deal of time to get over it.

“It was a massive moment in the season, a massive moment in my career and in my life. Up until that point I had thoroughly enjoyed the day. I’d had one of my best games of the season and it was a huge disappointment but I’m a man and you have to take it on the chin.

“Time was the way I got over it. Time is a healer. I had to face what happened and front it up. There was no point hiding or pretending it hadn’t happened. I didn’t do it on purpose, there’s been a lot better players than me who have missed penalties over the years and I’m sure there will be a lot better players after me to miss penalties in cup finals.

"It’s football. Someone has to win and someone has to lose but it was the cruellest way. It’s hard to take but it is what it is.

“I’ve retaken that penalty a million times in my head. The keeper had dived to the left for the first penalties and I thought maybe he was diving the same way every time so I thought ‘head down, hit it on target and give yourself a chance’. It wasn’t a bad penalty, it was a good save.”

Bloomfield wanted to hide in his own misery, but he couldn’t. There was no running and no hiding place.

He said: “After the game the chairman had hired a bar in the Hilton Hotel where we all congregated, the players, staff and families.

"I didn’t want to go but I did because it was the right thing to do and everyone showed their support to me and to Woody and all the other players who had come so close to achieving and not quite being able to get over the line.”

“Three days after the final I was at St George’s Park starting my A licence for eight nights. I could have thought of one hundred million places I would rather have been than there. But I was building for my future. I’ve got a daughter now I have to support and I’ve got to have a future when I’ve finished playing.

“It was something I needed to do. I didn’t want to but I had to get on with it. It’s life. Worse things happen at sea. There are illnesses and accidents that happen to people in the real world, this was football, it’s sport, someone has to win and someone has to lose. I wish it wasn’t us and I wish it wasn’t me but you have to get on with it.

“I’ve got big shoulders. I would rather put myself forward for these situations with the possibility of failing rather than hiding at the back not wanting to take responsibility.

"That’s the way I’ve always been. I’ve always put myself forward to play in different positions and to put myself out for the club. That’s the way I’ve built my career and I won’t be changing anytime soon.

“If the same situation came up again, I would put myself forward again.

"Being a team member and team player has always been a big thing in my career. I’ve built my career on that and I would never want to get away from that.”

That penalty was the last ball he kicked in competitive anger for the Blues and now he is ready to ride the emotional roller coaster of being a Wycombe Wanderers footballer again.

He said: “As players we have to realise that last season and playing in a final at Wembley was such a massive improvement on the previous season when we came so close to going out of the Football League and what could have been disastrous oblivion for the club.

“The squad has been freshened up a little bit with new faces and new energy. We have to approach the new season with energy and vigour. I’m as enthusiastic as ever.

"As you get older you appreciate what you have more and as the years are ticking down you want to savour it more and enjoy every moment. Everybody knows I love this job and I love playing for this club.

“I’m only 31 and there’s plenty more left in the legs and plenty more enthusiasm in my brain and in my heart.”