It has taken 57 years and the arrival of a born winner in Ellery Hanley, but Doncaster, whose perennial failures were brought to the attention of the nation in the documentary Another Bloody Sunday in the early 1980s, will play in their first final tomorrow, against Salford City Reds in the Northern Rail Cup.

Hanley took over at the Co-operative National League Two club at the start of the season and has led them, if not quite to the promised land, then to Blackpool, where Doncaster will be huge underdogs against Salford, whose engage Super League aspirations rest on the RFL accepting them as one of the 14 successful three-year licence-holders who will be named on July 22. Doncaster's ambitions of reaching the top flight rest with an application for 2012, but tomorrow's final appearance marks a promising first step on that road, less than a year after the club nearly went out of business - not the first time during six decades of struggle.

Hanley's appointment by a new regime at the Keepmoat Stadium - which they cohabit with Doncaster Rovers, their aspirant football rivals and is a far cry from Tattersfield, their tumbledown old ground - was a signal of intent.

The former Great Britain captain and coach, who led Wigan to trophy after trophy from 1985-90 and in 2007 was voted the greatest ever Great Britain player in a poll conducted by the RFL, liked the look of the challenge. He has imprinted his winning mentality in a few months on a club who once had an entry in The Guinness Book of Records for persistent failure and finished bottom of the old single-tier rugby league championship 12 times.

Hanley said: “At the start of the season nobody thought we'd reach the final, but we've gone about our business quietly and now the players have been rewarded. Salford are very much a full-time side and we're very much part-time. We probably only see each other for 5 hours a week.

“Some of my players are in tough full-time jobs, like plasterers and bricklayers. For them to come to training and concentrate mentally and physically is extremely hard. One or two of them probably thought we were going to wave a magic wand and win everything, but it doesn't work like that. But fitness is no longer an issue. It's about mental strength, understanding how to win.”

Victory, nonetheless, would be a surprise for the first team from National League Two to qualify for the final against opponents relegated from the Super League only last season and who reached the play-offs the season before. “Sunday is like Doncaster Rovers playing Manchester United in a cup final,” Craig Harrison, the club chairman, said. “Salford are a full-time club with a lot of experienced men, but we've got a fighting chance. If our talented young lads play like they can, then you can't rule them out.”

Peter Green, the club's long-serving captain and forward, said: “It's the biggest game I've ever played in. My dad was involved with the club, so I have always followed them. This is great for us, especially after last year, which was a rough ride for everyone. It's also good to give the fans something back, and a lot of people are talking about us in the town, which is nice.

“We'll need to raise our game even more. We started well in the semi-final [against Batley] but had a couple of opportunities that were wasted.

“We know that chances are going to be few and far between in the final, Green added. “For a one-off game, we're going to need to play with massive intensity, but anything can happen in a final, if we get the basics right and work hard for each other for the full 80 minutes.”