ALEX NEIL believes the best way to prepare for the biggest match in his short managerial career will be to focus on the Sky Bet Championship play-off final against Middlesbrough this afternoon as being just another game.

Back in August, the 33-year-old Scot began the season as player-manager of Hamilton Academical, tackling Arbroath at New Douglas Park.

Roll the clock on some 10 months, and Neil now stands on the verge of guiding Norwich back into the Barclays Premier League, and with it a £120million promotion jackpot following a staggering run of 16 victories in his 24 matches since replacing Neil Adams at the start of January.

Wembley fever may have engulfed Norfolk and Canaries fans around the globe since beating East Anglia rivals Ipswich in the semi-final, with some 39,500 tickets having been snapped up and coaches, trains and planes from as far afield as Canada, Australia and South Vietnam all booked.

Yet Neil has kept the squad's preparations focused on the job in hand - winning a football match.

"The way I go about it and the detail is different, but not the process, that is the same whether it was Arbroath or now Middlesbrough at Wembley. I will still do the same things with my players," said Neil, who took the players down to London at the start of the week to help familiarise both the squad and himself ahead of a first trip to the national stadium.

"The background detail is obviously different because this is a one-off match. In a league game you can make the points up further down the line.

"But it doesn't matter who I am playing. If I haven't prepared my team then I haven't done my job, but I know there is a lot more at stake in this final game."

Neil said: "I have got decisions to make every week, it is not as if this week is any different. What is at stake is different, but that is the only difference really.

"I know exactly what I want to do. It is about picking the right team for the game, that is the most important thing."

Neil will need no introductions to the threats posed by Boro, with Aitor Karanka's side having secured a smash-and-grab 1-0 win at Carrow Road on April 17 which all but ended Norwich's hopes of automatic promotion, the Canaries eventually finishing third and three points behind Watford.

"I have watched Boro enough now, I know what they are capable of and what we are capable of doing," said Neil.

"We know exactly where our frailties lay in that game (at Carrow Road) and how to improve on them, and that is something we have touched on with the players and will continue to bed into them between now and game time.

"For the players, (the message is) don't have any regrets. They have worked so hard to get to this point, it's really important that we don't fall at the final hurdle.

"What you are hoping is that our players can have more than an impact in the game than theirs, and it might take a bit of magic or a mistake from an individual that is the deciding factor."

Norwich forward Lewis Grabban is available at Wembley after serving a three-match suspension following his red card against Rotherham.