Boss Mick McCarthy believes the Blues need to get something out of Saturday’s visit to Brighton and Hove Albion if they are to stand a chance of reaching the play-offs.
Town face Derby and Nottingham Forest at home following the trip to the Amex in what are likely to prove pivotal games in they play-off push. The Blues are currently ninth, six points from the top six.
"They’re huge games for us,” McCarthy said. "I keep saying we might know where we are at the end of the week. Maybe we won’t with the results the way they are in terms of the play-off spots.
"You don’t write it off until it’s mathematically impossible, of course, but I think we need to go to Brighton and get something.
"I think Derby are the ones who are out of our sights, so the two bigger ones are Brighton and Nottingham Forest, we can’t allow them to take maximum points from us.”
Looking at the division as a whole, he says that while plenty of clubs are embroiled in play-off or relegation fights, he believes the two automatic places are sorted.
"We know it’s fascinating, it is every year, last season it certainly was when you think about the relegation scrap,” he said.
"The promotion battle, for me, is just about over and done with in terms of the top two. I think Leicester and Burnley are going to sort that out.
"QPR and Forest were two teams I thought were home and hosed for the play-offs but I’m not convinced that’s all certain.
"If you get on a bad run it really can grip you and it’s hard to get out of it. And yet at the bottom, teams are picking up points.
"I was at Charlton, watching them against Bournemouth with TC, and Bournemouth I thought were excellent in the first half.
"We left, as we do, 10 minutes before the end, thinking it’s been a hard-fought draw and even on the radio coming home it said it was a 0-0 but then there was a goal, 1-0, Charlton won.
"We were sat with the Millwall coach, Marc Bircham, and he was desperately hoping Bournemouth would win and that must have been devastating for them having watched the game to 93 minutes and then suddenly finding themselves in the bottom three. It’s exciting and intriguing and it always is.”
McCarthy is a fan of the play-offs, although he wasn’t entirely happy with the way they were initially set up: "When they first came out I seem to remember the third bottom of the top league played somebody from the Championship, which I thought was completely and utter bollocks and I still do if they ever decide to do that again.
"If you’ve got 34 points from Premier League football, I’m not bothered if you’ve got 85 in the Championship, because gaining 34 points might just be a magnificent effort.
"I think the play-offs have been great. They keep interest in the league, we’re still interested in the league because there’s a play-off spot.
"If it was the top three going up we’d be forgetting all about it. We’re still interested and it keeps us all honest. If you remember last year it was down to 12th spot. I think it is now - if somebody put in a good run they could get there.
"Despite the fact that I’ve finished third twice and ended up in them, I like them. Even then I thought that we knew before the start of the season what the rules were and if you finish sixth and get in the play-offs you think it’s great. They’re the rules. I think they’ve been good for the league.”