While Chris Wilder will probably still be stunned that his Middlesbrough side have dropped outside of the playoffs by such a margin, he will recongise that there is no time to dwell on their recent disappointments.
That appeared to be the case as Boro impressively made light work of Cardiff City on Wednesday evening, goals from Marcus Tavernier and Riley McGreeending a five-match winless streak.
That result has moved Boro back to within two points of sixth-placed Sheffield United, who still have Fulham to come on the final day of the campaign, and Wilder will be optimistic that two more wins will get them over the line.
Nevertheless, Wilder is still struggling to get a tune out of his forwards, McGree netting two of the team’s recent three goals after only being drafted into the side as a replacement for the suspended Matt Crooks.
Whether that alters Wilder’s thinking ahead of this contest remains to be seen, but the January arrival has effectively made himself undroppable after stepping up to the plate when his side were on the brink of becoming one of the also-rans in the promotion race.
Stoke fall into that category, the Potters dropping out of contention on the back of an eight-match winless streak which lasted until the middle of March.
Since then, however, Stoke have been one of the form teams in the division, recording 15 points from a possible 21 to give Michael O’Neill a chance of keeping his job at the bet365 Stadium.
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The argument will be that the resurgence has only come with this group of players competing with less pressure and expectation on their shoulders, but it has left the powers-that-be with plenty of justification if they make the decision to retain the former Northern Ireland manager.
Most impressively during their recent run, Stoke have conceded just four goals in seven games, keeping four clean sheets in the process, and it has ensured that the goals of Jacob Brown have proven more decisive.
The forward has scored in four of their recent victories, taking his tally for the campaign to 13 from 43 league appearances.
