The question was direct and since four teams at the top of the Championship are separated by just eight points with 11 games left to play, entirely reasonable - could the contest go right to the wire?

It was posed to recent recruit Lewis Travis and the on-loan Blackburn Rovers midfielder quickly replied: “Yes, I think so. The teams around us, as everyone knows, have fantastic players, so it’s not as if they are just going to fall away. So, yes, I could see it going right down to the last day to decide.”

Then he added: “We deserve to be there and have lost just four of our 35 games so far. I have come here and joined a fantastic group of boys, fantastic manager and coaching staff, so I don’t see why we can’t go all the way.”

Asked about the key driving factors that have put Town, back in the second tier after a four-year absence thanks to last year’s promotion from League One, in such a strong position, Travis continued: “It’s a blend of loads of various things.

“We are all humble boys with a willingness to work hard and apply ourselves every single day in training, plus we have a really good manager. The intensity levels are absolutely massive and it’s a blend of everything coming together.

“I feel like it would be a perfect world if we could go and win all of our remaining 11 league games, but I also feel there are going to be some ups and downs along the way. We’ve just got to stay focused, like the lads are, through to the end of the season.”

No one is loving life more right now than Travis, who has started four times and appeared from the bench on a further two occasions, but his delight at helping Town to second place in the Championship is tempered by the fact that no prizes are going to be handed out anytime soon.

Travis is still only 26 but he has packed a lot of experience into those years, including 200 league appearances with his parent club, more than enough time to appreciate that it’s not always plain sailing in the hugely competitive world of professional football.

Fresh from a fifth successive win at Plymouth on Saturday, Town’s position has strengthened in recent weeks thanks at the same time to the misfortune of others, in particular leaders Leicester, whose 18-point advantage on the Blues has been slashed to just three.

The riveting contest to claim the biggest promotion prizes on offer anywhere in the global game – lucrative places in next season’s Premier League – moves on tonight with Bristol City’s visit to Portman Road the latest challenge for manager Kieran McKenna and his players.

Fans’ excitement level in these parts has rarely been more fevered, but when Travis was asked if the mood within the club had to be more measured, he replied: “Yes, 100 per cent. With Leeds and with Leicester, people probably thought they were going to be miles ahead but it hasn’t worked out like that.

“There are always going to be loads of ups and downs but we’ve just got to keep concentrated as a group of lads and take every game as it comes.”

There have been plenty of shock results involving some of the leading contenders in recent weeks, notably relegation-threatened duo Millwall and QPR securing unexpected away wins at Southampton and Leicester respectively, and Travis accepts there can be no room for complacency.

He added: “We know that anyone can beat anyone and at the end of the day, when you’re playing teams towards the bottom of the table, they are scrapping to stay in the league.

“We are looking to get promoted but they are desperate to avoid relegation and, as we’ve seen, anything can happen on the day. We’ve just got to stay mega dialled in and take every game as it comes.”

Reflecting on the weekend success in Devon, the combative midfielder endorsed the view that Town had to show different sides of their character to come away with three points.

“I think with every team you come across it’s going to be a different sort of game really,” he explained.

“At Portman Road we can pass teams off the park, but the next week we might be in a different sort of situation, where the pitch isn’t as good as the one at Portman Road and the opposition come man to man with the press.

“So, we have to fight more for the result, but we have shown we can do that and I think that’s why the team has lost so few games this season.

“The clean sheet was massive, especially at a place like Plymouth because they have some really good players and it was a tough place to go, to be honest.”

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dirtydingusmagee added 06:41 - Mar 5 def think it will go to last day, cant see any of the teams going unbeaten in remaining matches. Going to be a nail biting time ,and in the end it will be a case of who blinks first .In past we have bottled it when under pressure, but KM has changed the mentality of the players and they are a different breed, they DONT give up . COYB
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Europablue added 07:47 - Mar 5 Just win tonight and we will see what happens after that!
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JewellintheTown added 09:16 - Mar 5 Nice guy but keeps on dodging that all important question we all want answers to. Why Does It Always Rain on Me? Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
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BobbyBell added 09:58 - Mar 5 My big fear is that we finish on equal points and lose out on goal difference. We could be 20 points ahead of 6th and still not get automatic.
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Linkboy13 added 10:07 - Mar 5 We needed to upgrade our strength in depth as most of it is div one standard and this guy is obviously a good player having been made captain of Blackburn but it's difficult to show your best when you are not getting much game time and your competing against probably the best central midfielder in the championship in Sam Morsy.
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PortmanTerrorist added 12:28 - Mar 5 Of course everyone is going to drop points as the top teams all have to play each other...even though we only have Saints at home. However we still have to go up the road. On the plus side, we know how to do this, we have the mentality for the run in, whereas the other teams at the top could not get results when they really needed to last year, and whilst this is a lower league, you wonder if they can/will cope. We are in this, but everyone get behind the boys tonight as every performance and point will be vital. COYB

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