Midfielder Cole Skuse believes Town’s promotion rivals might be tempted to overestimate the impact of top scorer David McGoldrick’s lengthy absence through injury.

The 16-goal marksman is likely to miss the final 15 games of the Championship programme with a knee injury, although a top-six finish might just mean he could be available for the end-of-season knockout phase.

Skuse said: “A lot of teams will be looking at us and thinking ‘They’ve lost their main man, that’s them done’. But people have been writing us off from the start so there is no massive outside pressure on us.

“But there is pressure from within the camp to keep up our standards. We don’t want to be dragged back into the middle of the pack — we want to stay in that play-off mix.”

Town face their toughest test of the season today with a trip to face runaway league leaders Leicester at the King Power Stadium, where they slumped to a 6-0 defeat in what was only manager Mick McCarthy’s fourth game in charge.

Skuse added: “Leicester are flying. They’ve found a really good balance and rhythm, and will be expecting to pick up three points. Yes, it’s a big game, but we go there as underdogs and there is no massive expectation.

“We won’t so much go there and play with a bit more freedom but we have set ourselves high standards and we want to keep to those standards.

“We’ve drawn games and dropped points in our eyes. I think if we’d have gone a goal or two ahead against Blackpool last week that would have been the game done. That’s football, though. It happens.

“Saturday is going to be a tough game but why can’t we go there, get a win and carry on that push for the play-offs?”

Town are among a cluster of clubs looking to overhaul sixth-placed Reading and claim what appears, realistically, to be the final play-off place up for grabs.

But what will it take for Town to close the gap on the Royals, who were beaten 2-0 at Portman Road last month but have since gathered nine points from a possible 12 and most recently triumphed 3-1 at highly-fancied QPR?

Skuse said: “I don’t know if I’m the right man to answer that. We’ve got all the ingredients and if we’d converted a few more draws into wins then we’d be right up there.

“I don’t think there is much we can add to this squad to make it that much better. Leicester have struck a good balance and are top of the league but they have spent heavily in recent years, so I don’t know — maybe you’ll have to ask the manager that question.”

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