Aaron Pierre believes Wanderers deserve their day under the arch as reward for their never say die attitude.

The Chairboys took 19 points after conceding the opening goal during the regular season, leaving them second overall with Shrewsbury’s tally of 22 the highest.

Blues fell behind in 16 of their 46 matches, losing seven, drawing four and coming back to win on five occasions.

Saturday’s opponents Southend have been less successful from losing positions, winning only twice in the 11 matches in which they’ve conceded first.

Pierre said: “We battle hard for each other and we’re hard to beat because we never know when we’re beaten as previous games show when we’ve been trailing but we come back and do something special.

“We deserve it considering we have a small squad and there’s been times when we’ve only had three players on the bench and one of them is a staff members.

“We deserve it and I’m just pleased that we’ve achieved it.”

Wanderers took the game to Plymouth over the course of their semi-final tie, running out deserved 5-3 winners on aggregate.

Pierre believes they can take confidence from the way their attacking play dismantled the Pilgrims and use it to help them take Southend apart in the final.

The 22-year-old said: “Everyone’s going to be raring to go for Wembley, who wouldn’t be?

“We’re just very fortunate that we get the opportunity to do so and we’re not going to take it for granted. We’re going to attack like we have done in the last two legs.”

The centre-back also had praise for goalkeeper Alex Lynch, who kept Plymouth at bay in the second half when they were pushing forward in the hope of rescuing the contest.

“He’s done ridiculously well considering these are his first two professional games and they’re essential games,” said Pierre.

“Everything was on him and he rose to the occasion. There were two or three times in the second half especially when they were pressuring and pressuring him.

“He stood up and said ‘I can deal with this’ and that shows the character within the squad and himself. All of us are confident in what we do and no matter what’s thrown at us we’ll deal with it and handle it accordingly.

“I’m very happy for him because he’s 20 and he’s playing in a big, big competition like this. You can only be proud of him.”