Should Town fail to win promotion back to the Championship this season it should be regarded as a missed opportunity, according to striker Will Keane.
But missing out is not uppermost in the players’ minds right now, with 27-year-old Keane stressing: "We’re not even thinking about that at the minute. We’ve got to maintain a positive mentality so we’re only thinking about moving forward and getting back on the right track towards at least getting into the play-offs.”
Keane also understands the fans’ angry reaction to Town’s slump in form that has seen them drop down the table to ninth place, five points adrift of the top six, after sitting in pole position in January thanks to a mini-revival that saw them collect 10 points from a possible 12.
"We understand why the fans are angry,” added Keane. "It’s the position we are in after we were right up there fighting for it. We’ve let it slip and we knew the expectation here; in fact we put that same expectation on ourselves from day one.
"Obviously, we want to get back up there and the way we have dropped off hasn’t been good enough. It’s up to us now to do something about it and give the fans something to cheer about from the two home games coming up in the next few days.”
Tomorrow’s visit of eighth-placed Fleetwood and Saturday’s clash with leaders Coventry present a perfect opportunity for Town to gain ground on the teams above them, although they will need to up their game considerably after only one win and four points from their last seven outings.
Asked if booing from supporters hampered Town, the former Hull man added: "I don’t think so. We have to show the right character to take it on board. We understand where it’s coming from and we’ve got to look at our own performances.
"We have let ourselves down, as well as the fans, and we need to take it on the chin and just get on with it.
"Even on Saturday at Blackpool, to be fair, if you look at our support they are still all there. That’s great to see but everyone is entitled to their opinion and the only way we are going to turn it is by getting the results.
"It’s all well and good having little spells of play but at the end of the day we need to make sure we are more ruthless in both boxes.”
Fans’ expectancy of a successful promotion challenge has been there since the current campaign got under way and Keane was asked if it weighed heavily on the players’ shoulders.
"The lads are all on board with that and we’ve had it all season,” he continued. "It’s not that it weighs heavily on our minds but more about our own expectations.
"After being in the Championship last season that’s what we are striving for, to get back. None of us want to be playing in League One next year.
"The objective has always been, and still is, to get up. These are the demands we have placed on ourselves.”
On a personal note, the former Manchester United youngster has started nine of Town’s last 10 games and came off the bench in the other, and he admitted: "It’s been good to be getting a run of games but disappointing that I haven’t scored more goals. I feel as if some of my performances might have deserved a goal but it hasn’t quite been going my way, which has been frustrating.
"But that happens and I just have to make sure I keep doing the right things and work hard for the team. I still feel I have contributed in different ways and hope that my luck will change in the next couple of games. I feel really good.
"The games are improving my fitness and on Saturday I played up front on my own, which is a role I’ve played a lot and one that I enjoy. Whatever the manager wants me to do I’m happy to do it. I’m just glad to be out there fighting for the team.”
The main highlight of the 2-1 defeat at Bloomfield Road was that fit-again Freddie Sears, who was out of action for almost a year with the cruciate injury suffered at Norwich, celebrated his first league start this season with his first league goal thanks to an assist from Keane.
"It was nice to set him up. I enjoyed that and I was happy for Freddie after he had been out for such a long time,” said Keane.
"It’s been great to see him back and he’s been looking really sharp in training. He’s had a big impact on the lads and his return has been the sort of boost to confidence that the team needs.
"It’s the same with Bish getting his start on Saturday because we know the qualities he can add to the side, bringing a new dynamic with the directness of his play. It’s great to see them back and hopefully they can keep chipping in.”
Of course, with James Norwood recovering from groin surgery and Kayden Jackson still suspended for the next two games, Keane and Sears are the club’s only available senior strikers.
Keane added: "We’ve got to take the responsibility on board and keep doing the right things. If we can perform like we know we can, hopefully the results will turn and we can get on a bit of a run.
"I played with Freddie quite a bit last year and really enjoyed it. He’s a very intelligent player and gets into the right areas to get among the goals.
"We had Tyreece Simpson and Armando Dobra come off the bench at Blackpool and I’ve been really impressed with both of them lately.
"Tyreece is a really powerful striker, which adds a different dimension to the side, and even in the short time he was on the pitch he was getting down the sides and was a big handful for their defenders.
"Dobs has been around the team throughout the season and he has great dribbling ability along with the creativity to unlock a defence and create something out of nothing.
"They might be called upon again in the next couple of months so they need to keep training hard to be ready when they get their chance.
"In recent games that [unlocking defences] is maybe something we’ve not done often enough. We’ve had spells of possession but we’ve maybe not unlocked defences enough and he’s definitely got that in his game.
"He can pick up a pass, shift the ball, take someone on and create something out of nothing.”
Turning to the absence of Flynn Downes from the next two games after he picked up his tenth league booking of the season at Blackpool, Keane said: "He’s been brilliant in there throughout the whole season — a rock in the middle and the complete midfielder because he can defend and attack.
"He’ll be a big loss but it’s an opportunity for one of the other lads to come in and whoever it is we all need to pull together.”