Sheffield prop Mitch Stringer says that defeat to Featherstone Rovers in last season’s Co-operative Championship Grand Final has been a massive driving force behind the Eagles’ success on the field so far in 2012.

Sheffield travel to take on Leigh Centurions in an elimination play-off at the Leigh Sports Village tonight (7.30pm) with a place in the 2012 Grand Final against Featherstone up for grabs and Stringer is relishing the prospect of making amends for last year’s disappointment.

“We had a great win over Halifax on Sunday and we’re all really enjoying our rugby at the minute,” said Stringer. “We’re going well and we don’t want the season to end.

“We set ourselves a target to go one better this season than we did last year so we are determined to win on Thursday and then go all the way and win the final as well. We know how to reach the final and what it takes to get there, so we’re confident we can do it and the first step is winning on Thursday.

“Last season’s Grand Final defeat has been a big driving force for me personally and we learnt a lot from that as a club. We’ve been smarter about how we play this season and hopefully we have timed our run right and that should bode well for this week.”

The sides met at the same stage last season when Sheffield emerged victorious 20-10 to book their place in the Grand Final and Stringer is expecting another tough encounter against the Centurions in front of the Premier Sports cameras on Thursday.

“We know Leigh will be coming out to prove a point against us after their defeat and they have been one of the most in-form teams during the closing stages of the season so it will be a tough game,” he said.

“But we’re a tight group and we’ll travel over to Leigh early in the in the day and get our preparation perfect so we’ll go into the game confident.

“We beat Leigh last season at this same stage but I think that game cost us the final as it took so much out of us. I’m confident we can get the win this week and then go one step further and lift the Grand Final trophy.”

Tickets for the Co-operative Championship play-off between Leigh Centurions and Sheffield Eagles at the Leigh Sports Village on Thursday September 20 (7.30pm) are priced from £16 adult, £5 concession and £1 juniors and can be purchased through the stadium ticket office.

Tickets to the Co-operative Championships Finals Day on Sunday September 30 at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington cost from just £16 adult, £8 concessions and can be purchased by calling the RFL Ticket office on 0844 856 1113 or by visiting www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk