Town skipper Luke Chambers insists he is not shocked by the transformation that has taken place since Mick McCarthy became manager 16 months ago.
McCarthy took charge on November 1st, 2012, with the team languishing at the bottom of the Championship, having accumulated a mere seven points from their first 13 league games of the season.
That they eventually survived was quite a feather in McCarthy’s cap but how many people anticipated that Town would now be in contention for the play-offs and possible promotion to the Premier League?
Chambers said: "I’m not really surprised. Obviously, I didn’t see it after the first ten games — back then if I’d looked this far into the future I never would have thought it would happen.
"But once I saw the progress we made, sort of midway through last season, and where we found ourselves, I think it was only going to be a matter of time before we were challenging up this end of the table.
"I still feel we could be even higher than we actually are at the minute, having played the way we have this year. But we’re very happy with what we’ve done so far, the progress we’ve made and what we’ve had to do to get to where we are. Everyone has enjoyed it and we’re looking forward to the next seven games — and hopefully ten.”
Town are only one of a handful of teams looking to clinch a top-six spot but Chambers is trying hard not to be distracted by what is happening elsewhere.
He admitted: "To be honest I haven’t really looked too much at the table. People keep talking about us being two points off and I obviously know that, but beyond Brighton drawing the other night I don’t know the full situation, although I’ve noticed that Bournemouth have picked up some very good form and I don’t think they are too far behind.
"All we can do is continue to concentrate on our own games, which we have tried to do in the last week or two and we managed to take a massive step forward with seven points out of nine from the Brighton, Derby and Nottingham Forest games.
"Hopefully, that’s what we’ll continue to do. If there was any confidence lacking before our wins over Brighton and Derby they have given the lads more belief.
"We feel we can beat anyone and we have felt that way all season. When teams have beaten us I don’t think the margins of defeat have been very big, especially when we lost to the teams above us.
"We will just continue what we have been doing all season, trying to be solid, trying to out-work our opponents and taking our opportunities when they arise, like we have done in the last week or so.
"We’ll continue to do what we’ve done from day one, which has put us in a great position going into the last seven games. I don’t think we’ll be trying to do anything different.
"We are in a good position where we can continue to keep our heads and stay calm. When the chances come along I definitely feel we’ve got the players to take them. If we do make the play-offs we’ll have as good a chance as any of the others of winning them.”