SAM Allardyce has urged Wanderers to rise to the European challenge, because they might never get another chance.
Victory over bottom club Norwich at the Reebok would see the Whites leapfrog Liverpool into fifth place in the Premiership and greatly enhance their prospects of qualifying for a UEFA Cup place next season.
But the manager is worried that any hangover from last week's FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Arsenal could see them lose the initiative. Hence the warning.
"This is our big chance and we might not get another," he said.
"How can we say we will ever get this chance again. The game doesn't happen like that.
"We're so near, yet still so far away. Let's just make sure we don't end up disappointed, in mid-table having not achieved any of the realistic goals we set ourselves.
"We've had two chances of getting into the UEFA Cup. One has gone, now we've got to focus on the second."
Personally, Allardyce admits he has found it difficult to get over the cup defeat. He felt Arsenal were there for the taking after their elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich - until El-Hadji Diouf shifted the balance of power with his temper tantrum.
"I've never seen Arseanl look as average as they looked on Saturday," he said. "I think it was a reaction to their Champions League defeat.
"Our job is to make sure we don't suffer the same sort of adverse reaction against Norwich.
"I want to see us go all guns blazing and make sure there's no backlash."
Allardyce knows from bitter personal experience that opportunity does not always knock twice.
The nearest he came to playing in a major final was in 1977 when, as a young member of the Bolton team beaten by Everton in the League Cup semi-final, he thought time was on his side.
"I was 21 or 22 at the time and people told me I had plenty of time to do it again," he recalled. "But I never did. That's why it's so important to make the most of the opportunity we've got now."
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