TERRY McDERMOTT believes Town’s players and fans should ‘Smile Awhile’ at Old Trafford tomorrow.

The vastly-experienced assistant manager, 59, feels Town have got their preparations spot on , striking the right balance between work and rest.

And he also feels the best approach against Peterborough is for the players – in the spirit of the old club song – to play with a smile on their faces while supporters belt out the words which have spanned an illustrious blue and white history.

Town are treating it like a normal match, they’ve done nothing different apart from have a few days at the Belfry because of the 10-day span between semi-final and showpiece, and they will travel to Manchester tomorrow morning rather than staying over in a hotel.

There are no big-match suits, either, as Town look to their final match of the season in terms of business as usual.

"We’ve played 61 matches this season, more than any other club in the country, so the lads have had plenty of training," said McDermott. "There’s been a long time between the semi-final and now and we wanted to keep the group together, so we went down to the Belfry and did a bit of paint-balling, clay pigeon shooting and golfing and then came back to the training ground.

"We have done our work but we have also rested them up, because that’s part and parcel of our build-up as well – and we think we’ve done it right."

McDermott says helping Town earn promotion would rank high among his achievements, no mean feat for someone who has won three European Cups, a UEFA Cup and six English titles.

"It would be very, very, very high up my list of achievements if we were to go up," he said.

"But more importantly it’s about what it would mean to everyone concerned. "It’s not just the players and the staff, but the people in the office and the fans.

"They’ve been through some hard times over quite a few years, they’ve been through an administration and things like that, and it’s been a roller coaster.