Town defender Aaron Cresswell has a very special reason for hoping he stays injury-free for what remains of the current campaign.
Should he play the entire 90 minutes of the final three fixtures against Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City and Burnley it will mean a perfect attendance record of completing every second of every one of his team’s 49 league and cup games.
Left-back Cresswell, on target with a spectacular strike in the midweek win over Crystal Palace, said: "There are three games left and hopefully — touch wood — I can play in them all.
"It would be a nice little achievement being able to say I played every second of every game. It would be the first time I’d ever done it and it could be the last. I just hope I can keep fit until the end of the season and while I don’t want to be greedy it would be great to get another goal as well.”
Cresswell has also played a major role in the team’s excellent defensive record in recent weeks that has helped to catapult them to 13th place in the Championship table going into Saturday’s trip to face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.
He added: "In the last 14 games we have kept 10 clean sheets and only conceded six goals. Keeping clean sheets is always a good foundation for success. It’s something to build on because if you can keep a clean sheet you only have to nick a goal and you’ve won the game.”
The clash with Dave Jones’s team, who are only three points above the relegation zone, brings back memories of the corresponding game at Portman Road in late October that resulted in a 3-0 victory for the Owls.
Town had parted company with boss Paul Jewell, leaving assistant Chris Hutchings in caretaker charge, and the arrival of new boss Mick McCarthy a few days later signalled an immediate upturn in the club’s fortunes.
Cresswell said: "When we lost 3-0 to Wednesday at our place we weren’t able to win games and it wasn’t great around the club. Hopefully we can get a bit of revenge on them on Saturday.
"I can’t sit here and put my finger on one thing that has turned us into the side we are now. It’s never nice when a manager gets the sack. He brought me here, Jewell did, and I’ll always be grateful to him for that.
"But it’s not nice when you see a manager leave and the assistant takes over. It’s not a good feeling when you are not winning games and you haven’t got any confidence to carry into the next one.
"Since Mick has taken over we seem to have a lot of confidence. Like I’ve said, I can’t put my finger on what’s making us tick at the minute but confidence is a massive thing, especially when you go into a game and you are high on it.”