JOSH Dacres-Cogley refuses to write off Saturday’s game against Peterborough United as a ‘dead rubber’.

Whilst the chances of Wanderers leapfrogging Derby County to claim second spot are remote, the wing-back wants to leave nothing to chance.

He also believes a win at the Weston Homes Stadium will send out the right message to any prospective play-off opposition – Posh included – that Bolton are a team in form.

“We have to go into this game to make a statement,” he told The Bolton News. “We have to put a marker down to say ‘if you’ve get us in the play-offs then we are going to cause you problems’.

“I think it is massive for us to set a precedent, for them, for anyone else in the play-offs.

“We know second place is probably out of reach but football has a funny way of dong things and that is why I am saying we need to take care of our business. If Carlisle end up doing something and getting a result and we’re not at it then we have lost a massive opportunity.

“Everyone needs to be focussed now because both sides are going to want to take good form into the play-offs.

“Knuckle down, get a good win and then see where is leaves us.”

Wanderers have lost just one of their last 11 games but nevertheless there is a sense of disappointment within the camp that they slipped behind Derby in the race for second spot and allowed their promotion destiny to be taken out of their own hands.

Dacres-Cogley shares in the frustration but with just a week to refocus on the play-off semi-finals, he says there is no sense in dwelling on what might have been.

“I think we probably got a bit complacent,” he said. “I personally think we should have been out of sight already. But things happen for a reason and we have to take it in our stride now and take what it gives us.

“We have left points out there, I don’t think there is any doubt about that. If you ask anyone in the squad they would say the same. But we can’t dwell on that now. We’re in this position and we need to get out of it by getting promoted.

“There isn’t any time to mope around, and it is probably better that way. There is no time to think, we’ll just get straight in and crack on with it. I think we have a good enough group to do that and get this job done.

“The job isn’t done, there are potentially four massive games for us now.”

Dacres-Cogley also refused to pin any under-performance on the injuries picked up since the start of the year.

“I think everyone in the squad is good enough to have come in and done the job,” he said. “It doesn’t help with Dion (Charles) being out for so long but I think we had good enough players to come in and do the same job. I don’t like using that as an excuse.”