MICKY Mellon insists that there will be no Wembley hangover as his Tranmere side gears up for a third attempt to regain Football League status.

Despite amassing a club record points tally, the 2016/17 National League campaign ended in heartbreak for Rovers after they fell short in the playoff final, losing out to a Forest Green Rovers side that had finished nine points behind them in the regular season.

But the Scot says his side will have grown from that defeat and are on course for another title tilt when their season kicks off at Torquay United on Saturday.

Speaking exclusively to the Globe, he said: “We were obviously devastated but it’s done now. What we have got to be able to do is learn and move on and not dwell. We haven’t allowed that to happen.

“It’s now something that we’ve learnt from. It’s something that we’re desperate to move on from.

“But one thing is for sure, we’re still as fantastic a football club as we were before the game. That hasn’t changed. So we just continue to move forward and try to win games and we’ll be fine.

“We were all gutted but there’s a bigger plan for this than any moments of pain. That’s to keep the football club moving forward. We had a lot of work to do in the summer – we’ve moved to a new training ground now.

“We’ll put things in place that should see Tranmere fine for a long time now. There’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes that have been organised and done now, that will keep Tranmere a very good club.”

Defeat at Wembley was a bitter pill to swallow for the Super White Army, who now have to endure another long season in non-league-football – for one more year at least – but Mellon, 45, is adamant that the club and it’s loyal supporters are still on target for better times ahead.

He said: “I think the fans know how much I think of the club and how well we want to do. I think we all hurt together and we got on with it in the right way. We all know what we want to do and that’s win the next game – I keep saying it – and play well.

“One thing that will never change – Tranmere will always be a fantastic football club. There’s no doubt about that and we’ll do well to keep remembering that.

“It’s up to us now to win games of football and keep it moving forward – but it’s already moved forward in massive strides. You only have to be in and around the club to see that it is massively moving in the right direction.

“I’ve worked with the players since the start of pre-season and we’ve hit the ground running with a lot of the work that we did last season. We’ve added a couple of new players to the group and got stuck in right away.

“We’re way ahead of where we would’ve been if I hadn’t got a hold of them as early as I did in pre-season. We’re heading in the right direction.”

Mellon has made several new acquisitions to strengthen his squad but also has youth prospects like Luke Pilling, Mitch Duggan and Evan Gumbs challenging for first team action.

He added: “We’ve got a lot of good young lads coming through with a lot of exciting potential and we’ve got a lot of very good first team players.

“Everything’s fine, we’re in a good place. We’re guarding against believing we’re anywhere near where we want to get to but we’re certainly heading in the right direction.

“Let’s work, get organised and get ourselves down to Torquay. Let’s roll.”