Sutton United defender Alan Bray will play through the pain barrier this season in a bid to secure Blue Square South football at Gander Green Lane.

The 24-year-old missed last season’s play-off semi-final defeat to KIngstonian after damaging ankle ligaments in a ?-? win over days weeks before.

Bray, who signed a one year extension to his current contract in April keeping him at the club until 2011, made his return to action in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with League One title favourites Southampton.

He has put on hold an operation to repair underlying bone damage in his left ankle to play a full-part in the coming campaign.

And the versatile full-back is hoping boss Paul Doswell’s men can avoid play-off heartache for the third successive season by landing automatic promotion this time around.

“When I originally did my ankle I was told to rest and see what happens. I’ve done that but there is still a problem,” he said.

“Now there is a chipped bone causing problems with flexibility, but it is too late to have an operation now.

“I’ll just strap it up heavily, get through the season and have the operation next summer. By then, I don’t think I’ll have a choice but to have it.

“I played on Saturday and it didn’t cause too many problems, apart from the fact I’m really struggling fitness wise.

“Watching the play-offs was the worst thing, but we didn’t deserve it in the second-half. It was very disappointing.

“If we a can finish top we don’t have to worry about that again and that is the aim.”

Bray has watched with interest as Doswell has overhauled his playing resources during the summer, with Craig Dundas, Richard Jolly and Simon Downer the highest-profile arrivals.

And, despite seeing a number of friends depart Gander Green Lane, he is confident the changes will only enhance the club’s chances of success.

“When Paul started clearing out some of my friends and I was thinking ‘what is he doing?’, but I think the replacements he has got in are better players,” he added.

“I’ve not seen much of them, but we have played well, got two good results and things have looked really good. You can’t really complain about that.”

But Bray has warned fans, who saw Dundas score the opener in Saturday’s draw with Alan Pardew’s Saints, against getting carried away with two results against League opposition.

“We are going to come up against teams that will bully us, where as the teams higher up the leagues tend to let you play a bit more football,” he added.

“The Ryman League Premier Division is tough and we have got to be able to grind out results.

“We managed to put a run of 20-odd games unbeaten last season and still finished second, which goes to show how hard it is.”