Town manager Kieran McKenna isn’t ruling out sides beyond Middlesbrough, the Blues and Millwall still fighting it out for the Championship’s second automatic promotion spot.

While leaders Coventry look uncatchable, barring a late-season collapse, Boro, Town and the Lions appear the three in contention for second.

The Teessiders currently occupy the position, two points ahead of the Blues in third and Millwall in fourth, but with Town having a game in hand on everyone other than fourth-bottom Portsmouth, the trip to Fratton Park having been postponed twice.

Fifth-placed Hull City are three points behind the Blues and the South Londoners with Southampton in sixth and Wrexham in seventh each another three points back.

Asked whether he views the final month, in which Town play eight games in 27 days, as a three-way fight, McKenna said: “I think until it’s impossible, you’d never rule out teams and there are teams below that who are probably thinking that if they can win seven, six, seven, eight games before the end of the season, then they might be there or thereabouts. I think you would never discount that.

“Again, the only focus can be with us is that we have eight games. By the time we get to Saturday, we’re going to be two games behind teams and we’re going to have to win a good proportion of those games.

“Now, whether that’s five wins, six wins, seven wins, you don’t know and you can’t control what other teams do, apart from the game we play against Middlesbrough.

“The only way to think of it is to go and try and win your next one and know that you’re going to have to perform well across a really busy spell.

“I think it’s still pretty tight up there. I’m sure there will be a few other teams that will have their eyes on doing something special in the last month. We’re one of them who really just want to be successful.”

McKenna says he’s not too disappointed that Good Friday’s scheduled game at Southampton was postponed due to the Saints’ FA Cup quarter-final tie at home to Arsenal on Saturday with the Blues now making the trip to St Mary’s in the final week of the campaign.

“I can’t say I’m too frustrated about this one,” he added. “One, because there’s nothing to be done about it, the rules are the rules and Southampton have progressed really well in the up, so credit to them.

“It means that we’re going to have to play three away games in the last four and three away games in six days. That’s going to be a big test, but in some ways it’s not that far away in terms of weeks, but in another way, in terms of football, it’s probably a lifetime away.

“Who knows where both teams will be at that position, so there’s no point thinking too much about it. 

“I think we take the silver lining, which is the fact that the players who have been away and had busy internationals will at least have a couple of days’ training here back with the group.

“The extra couple of days will maybe bring one or two players into contention for Monday that honestly probably wouldn’t have been fit if the game was tomorrow. We’ll take the hand that we’ve been dealt on that one.”

McKenna was asked whether he’d be spending his Good Friday watching first Middlesbrough host Millwall in a game which could have great significance for the Blues at 12.30pm, then Monday’s opponents take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and then leaders Coventry welcome Derby County to the CBS Arena for the evening game.

“Definitely not Middlesbrough versus Millwall because we’ll be training,” he said, having confirmed he will watch the Birmingham match. “Normally you try and watch the next opponent and I think it’s Norwich vs Portsmouth as well [at 3pm]?

“We’ll have people watch that because they’re the next opponents after that. So, no, I’ll be on the training pitch, but we’ll have good eyes in all the games.”

Photo: TWTD