Wes Burns and his Town team-mates believe they know precisely what they have to do in their remaining games to book a top-six place and keep alive their promotion dream.
Realistically speaking, the Blues are probably one of four sides currently outside the play-off zone that could make it, but there is very little margin for error after their most recent games against Cheltenham and Morecambe reaped a mere two points.
However, new manager Kieran McKenna’s record since taking charge has seen Town average two points per game from 12 games — and Burns firmly believes that a similar ratio over the final 11 fixtures could be enough to secure a play-off berth.
In December, when McKenna swapped his role as first-team coach at Manchester United for his first job in management, Town had reached the halfway stage of their League One programme and had collected 29 points from 23 games under predecessor Paul Cook.
The play-offs looked a task too far at that point but Town now have 53 points from 35 games, putting them within six points of their end-of-season top six target, the gap having been reduced from 10 points during the Northern Irishman’s 10 weeks in the job.
Burns, 27, said: "When the boss came in, we were saying that if we could average two points per game through to the end of the season it should take us very close or even into the play-offs.
"We did a recap yesterday and we’ve taken 24 points from his first 12 games as manager, so we’re still very much on track to do that. We have 11 games left and if we do get an average of two points per game that will be 22 points.
"That will give us a total of 75 points and I think there has only been one occasion in the last 20 years when that has not been enough to get a team into the top six. So that’s our aim now, to maintain the two points a game average over our final 11 games.”
Asked if a run of, say, seven wins and a draw from the final 11 fixtures is feasible, Burns responded: "Yes, definitely. Everyone has seen the style of play that we have adopted and we are dominating most games.
"I’ve said it multiple times myself — we are due to go on one of those runs that a team always goes on towards the end of the season. It was Blackpool last year and I have no doubt it will be Ipswich this year.”
Blackpool ended up winning the play-offs last season, although at the halfway point of the 2020/21 campaign they were on 34 points, two behind Town and six adrift of sixth-placed Sunderland. They eventually finished third on 80 points, meaning they had taken 46 from their 23 games during the second half of the campaign — exactly what McKenna and his men are looking to do 12 months on.
Town’s task would be that much easier had they been able to collect maximum points from the games at home against Cheltenham and at Morecambe, during which they racked up a host of scoring opportunities but only managed to hit the back of the net once.
Burns added: "We’re obviously very disappointed at only taking two points from those two games, but we have spoken as a group and agreed they were probably our two best performances in terms of dominating the games and creating chances. It was just a case of not being able to put the ball in the back of the net for whatever reasons.
"We would be having a very different conversation if we were not creating chances. It is a positive that we are creating so many scoring chances and on pitches that are difficult to play on.
"We are dominating games and it’s just a case of everyone in the squad having a ruthless mentality to get into positions where we have a chance to score and then delivering the killer blow. We have to show relentlessness and ruthlessness to put teams away when we are on top.”
An early goal would be welcomed at Fleetwood on Saturday. Town took the lead through Kayden Jackson within 42 seconds of the kick-off against Burton Albion last month, for example, and went on to record a comfortable 3-0 win.
Burns added: "An early goal in any game is always welcome. Everyone can see how teams are sitting back against us because they know we do dominate a lot of the ball. I’m not saying they park the bus but they put a lot of men behind the ball and defend their box.
"If we were able to score an early goal it would make them come out a bit and attack, to try to get back in the game. So, yes, an early goal would definitely suit us but if it doesn’t happen, we just have to keep working away and make sure we create the chances.
"We are definitely playing some of the best football I’ve been involved in during my career, in terms of a playing style, percentage of possession and number of chances created.
"What we are lacking at the moment, when we are on top, is that cutting edge or killer instinct to get the goals.
"I have played in teams that didn’t create half as many chances as we do in games, but the difference was that we were able to put away the one or two chances that did come our way.”