Town midfielder Cole Skuse is adamant Town can still finish in one of the two automatic promotion places this season.
The 1-0 win at MK Dons on Saturday took Mick McCarthy’s men into sixth position in the Championship table but they go into tonight’s clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage trailing leaders Brighton and second-placed Middlesbrough by 11 and nine points respectively.
Skuse said: "How realistic is automatic promotion? I think a lot of teams will be looking at it thinking it is very realistic, not just us or even the group above us at the top.
"The whole league in general is very, very tight so a lot of teams will be looking at it thinking it is a very realistic goal for them.
"People have talked about the top five pulling away but we don’t see it like that. Although we lost to Middlesbrough I thought we were the much better side for the first 55 or 60 minutes.
"I know that at the end of the day the three points are the be-all and end-all but I thought we played very well.
"Even last season we applied ourselves very well against the top teams. I don’t think we have anything to be afraid of.
"Even if there is a little gap there are always going to be spells where the other leading teams will have a bit of a wobble and that could see us gain momentum and close the gap on them. The current gap is nothing to be afraid of and we’re still aiming for the top.”
The recent 2-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough is Town’s only setback in an otherwise unbeaten eight-game run that has seen them collect 15 points and register three successive away wins over lowly trio Rotherham, Charlton and, at the weekend, MK Dons.
But although, on paper at least, the forthcoming run of games — after tonight’s trip to Fulham they face Derby, QPR, Brighton and Burnley — looks a lot more demanding, Skuse is bullish going into the festive period when points are traditionally won and lost in a short space of time.
He added: "Our next games are all against top teams with quality squads. They have spent very well to bring in some good players but we never go into a game overawed by the opposition.
"We never over-prepare for certain teams or take others lightly. We do the same preparation for every side we play and we go out on the pitch full of confidence knowing that we have every chance of beating anyone.
"We’ve had teams that have come to our place and changed their set-up to accommodate the way that we play but we never go into an away game looking to do that.
"We look to stamp our authority on the game and in the last few weeks the lads have been brilliant. Every game plan has worked and we’re picking up the rewards.”
Skuse collected the Man of the Match accolade from sponsors Sky Bet after Saturday’s success in Milton Keynes and he said: "I had a few in my long, long stint at Bristol. Not too many, just a few. I thought I did okay, not just me because I thought it was a very solid away performance. We had to dig in and dig deep.
"It wasn’t the most possession we’ve ever had in a game but it was a good away performance. It was a very buoyant bus on the way home because we got ourselves back into the top six, which is the minimum requirement for where we want to be.”