Clearly, the maths says otherwise. The Canaries still need at least another win to guarantee their place in the Championship again next season.

But that's one win from four games; three points from the last available 12.

And while no-one should underestimate the Norfolk club's capacity to shoot themselves in the foot, even at this late hour of the season, you still sense that the job is all but done.

If not home and dry, then one foot out of the water and the other one on its way.

It was interesting to note Glenn Roeder's comments after Saturday's 2-0 home win over Burnley that, in his eyes, that was the result; that was the important one; that was the last, big hurdle they had to leap for his dreams of the Great Escape to be all but realised.

From this side of the fence, three points from the last 12 is however clearly not the stuff of which Town's lingering play-off dreams are made.

Had they kept pace with the top-five pack and three points from their last four games might, just, have been enough.

We are, in every likelihood, looking at a historic low this season in terms of the number of points needed for a play-off place - 70, 71?
It's possible.

And, in fairness to Jim Magilton, he all but admitted after last weekend's defeat at Colchester United – ahead of Wednesday's draw with Cardiff – that Town can ill-afford to lose any games between now and the end of the season, as they look to overhaul the Wolves and Palaces of this world and regain their sixth and final play-off spot.

But with a trip to Wolves yet to come and that final home game of the season against Hull City already shaping up to be a do-or-die encounter in terms of the Tigers' own dreams of an automatic promotion place, the pressure on Town to deliver this Sunday is palpable.

Lose or not it won't – through simple maths – be the last nail in anyone's coffin but when momentum tends to be everything at this stage of the season, it could still prove to be the last stumble before the fall.

Put all that next to the fact that Sunday's game will be Darren Huckerby's 200th in a City shirt and those with a nervous twitch and blue blood might be well-advised to stay away on Sunday.

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