Jon Nolan believes anything less than automatic promotion back to the Championship for Town this season should be regarded as failure.
The red-haired midfielder insisted: "Anything else is a failure in my eyes, that’s my opinion. Of course, if we end up in the play-offs we’ll give our all, but for me we should be aiming to go up automatically.”
Nolan, 27, believes the hectic Christmas and New Year schedule provides an ideal opportunity for Town to put their recent dip in form behind them and get back on track with their promotion push.
Town have only managed one win from their last 10 games in all competitions and in the league, which manager Paul Lambert has always maintained matters above all else, they have only managed two points from their last four.
Lambert’s men will be playing four games in 11 days — Portsmouth away on Saturday, Gillingham at home on Boxing Day, Lincoln away on December 29th and leaders Wycombe Wanderers away on January 1st.
Nolan added: "There’s 12 points to play for in a short space of time and it could make a big difference to the table. The games always come thick and fast over Christmas but I’m sure the gaffer’s rotation policy will ensure players are fresh.
"We’ve got to go into every game trying to win it. We’re still in an unbelievable position.
"I know Wycombe have pulled further away from us but I’m fully confident that we’ll be up there at the end of the season. Not there or thereabouts, up there.
"The next four games give us a chance to cement our place up there at the top and we definitely can’t be losing any more ground on Wycombe.”
Town were sitting pretty in pole position back in September, two points clear of Wycombe, but things have changed in line with the teams’ respective form since then and the Chairboys’ lead at the top is a handsome seven points.
Some fans were probably thinking Town were set to run away with the title but Nolan said: "We, the players, never thought like that. You can’t just steamroller the league, any league, even if we are the biggest club in the league. But what’s wrong with saying we want it.
"To me, with the size of the club, we should be. We haven’t got a God-given right to be doing that, but that’s what I believe.
"It’s going to be tough but it’s just a little blip at the moment and we have a big game on Saturday at Portsmouth when we’ll be looking to put it right.
"We’ll go there full of confidence and we’ll be doing all we can to get the three points.
"What are we, second in the league? It’s an unbelievable position really, yet it seems to be doom and gloom at the moment, and I don’t understand why. We are capable of going on a run over the Christmas period.
"We were looking the other day at the League One table from a year ago and Luton, who went on to win it, were also sitting second. They went on a good run and we’re looking to do the same.”