Tommy Smith is reluctant to admit Town face a further season in the Championship as a result of the 1-1 draw with play-off rivals Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend.
Victory over the Owls at Hillsborough would have reduced the gap between the sides to five points and Smith admitted: "It looks like we are going to miss out but until it’s mathematically not possible any more we’ll keep doing all we can to close that gap.”
Eight points off the play-off zone with just four games left to play, Town go into tonight’s penultimate home fixture against Fulham needing a miracle if they are going to resurrect their promotion dream and Smith added: "It is disappointing, considering where we’ve been for most of the season, either within touching distance or even sat in those top six places.
"And especially after last year — not reaching the same heights as last year is disappointing for everyone at the club.”
Asked to pinpoint the reasons why Town appear unable to emulate last season’s sixth-place finish, New Zealand international Smith said: "I think if you look at the players we’ve had missing through injury over the course of the season, if we’d had everybody fit there’s no doubt we would have been in there. But these things happen in football.
"We try to do the best we can without certain players — obviously Ryan Fraser was a massive loss, plus Didzy for most of the season and other players who have been important for us also picking up niggles here and there. I think we also need to look at ourselves in the mirror and say we haven’t quite reached the same heights as last season.”
Meanwhile, Andre Dozzell’s progress has been the silver lining to Town’s slump in form that has seen them win just one of their last eight league games and Smith believes there is no chance of the 16-year-old midfielder, who marked his senior debut as a half-time substitute at Hillsborough with a point-saving equaliser, getting carried away.
Dozzell will start against the Cottagers tonight but Smith said: "I don’t think his dad will let him do that but we’re all obviously delighted for him after he came on for his debut and scored a goal, an important goal at the time because it got us back into the game.
"He’s only a young boy and he keeps himself to himself but he’s a talented player who has every chance and hopefully we’ll see a bit more of him in our remaining games.”
A drop of the shoulder from Smith paved the way for Town’s leveller and the defender added: "The gaffer has been trying to get us to do more of that, playing from the back, recently. It was good to be involved in the goal but the main thing was that we got it and it’s just unfortunate that we didn’t manage to get all three points.
"Andre is very talented with a nice left foot. He’s similar to Bish [Teddy Bishop] in a lot of ways with the body feints and the way he can sell you dummies. For someone who’s not physically strong he does handle himself quite well.
"It’s important for him not to get too big-headed but I’m sure his dad will keep him on the straight and narrow. He’s also got the right people around him at the club — the gaffer and the senior pros will look after him.”
Smith recalled how he made his own league debut at the age of 18 and remembered: "It’s nerve-racking to begin with but once you cross that white line the adrenalin kicks in and you switch to the normal mode of playing football. You’ve got to try to enjoy it because you never know when it might all come to an end.
"It comes down to attitude, application and a bit of luck as well. You need luck in football. Unfortunately, within a few weeks of making my debut I broke my ankle. That can happen in football and it’s about how you deal with the setbacks that come your way.”