Sutton United head into the League Two run-in still harbouring Play-Off hopes and safe in the knowledge that their fate is very much in their own hands.
Although four points adrift of seventh-placed Salford City, six of their remaining nine games are against sides above them in the table with the other three against Walsall (13th), Colchester United (21st) and Rochdale (24th).
On paper the challenge looks daunting but having lost only twice in their last 15 league outings since Boxing Day and, with the third best form in the league across the last six games (3W, 2D, 1L), they should have nothing to fear.
The challenge begins with a trip to eighth-placed Mansfield, who sit two points ahead of the Us with a game in hand as Sutton look to bounce back from a lacklustre 1-0 defeat at home to Grimsby which saw a nine-match unbeaten run come to an end.
A trip to mid-table Walsall follows before a make-or-break Easter period which sees Sutton face Stockport County (5th) at home on Good Friday and Bradford City (6th) away on Bank Holiday Monday.
It doesn’t get any easier from there on in as Gander Green Lane then plays host to Champions-elect Leyton Orient and Northampton Town (4th).
And if Sutton are to remain in the Play-Off mix, they will have to pick up more than the three points they have done in the reverse fixtures against all these sides with the only win coming in a 2-1 home win against Mansfield, back in August.
A lack of goals, conceding first and a spate of injuries hampered progress in the early part of the season but since the turn of the year, only five League Two teams have managed to gain more points than Matt Gray’s side (23).
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From July to December, Sutton managed only 23 goals in 24 games but, with the help of attacking reinforcements in January, have now found the net 17 times across 13 league matches.
With a goal difference of zero, significantly less than the teams around them, Sutton need goals with the arrival of Lee Angol from promotion rivals Bradford and the return of David Ajiboye crucial to their upturn in fortunes.
Both have netted three times, Angol from 10 games and Ajiboye from 12, providing Sutton with an added attacking dimension and new-found creative spark in their promotion charge.
Meanwhile, the Us have only managed to achieve one win after going behind so far this term, scoring twice in three minutes to beat Swindon Town 2-1 in February, in comparison to last season where they managed to overturn a deficit four times.
Out of the nine remaining games, only four of them are at Sutton’s Gander Green Lane fortress (third in the home form table with a 58% win ratio) meaning the Us will have to improve their results on the road if they are going to claim a Play-Off place.
If they can get to their home clash against Stockport without defeat it would set them up nicely for the subsequent six-pointers against their rivals with three of those games at home.
It may be a tough final few months, but Sutton are in-form and more than accustomed to defying the odds to succeed.
Images provided with thanks to Paul Loughlin/Sutton United FC.