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They did just that yesterday by beating relegation manager Micky Adams’ former club, relegation strugglers, Brighton 2-0 to clinch their promotion and also to take top spot with just three games to go.
Muzzy Izzet and Jordan Stewart scored the first half goals that clinched a return to the Premiership and that will be a life saver for a club who were recently in administration and are still not allowed to sign players.
Ipswich’s 3-0 win against Portsmouth, courtesy of three goals in the first half an hour, have left them with still a good chance of making the play offs. Sheffield United and Reading may well be out of reach now but Wolves and Forest certainly aren’t.
Forest are having a torrid time and having beaten the two clubs nearest to the play offs, Ipswich and Norwich, have now picked up just one point from the last four games all against top six teams. This week they have lost 1-0 at both Sheffield United and Reading and they are now the most vulnerable in the top six having just a two point lead over Ipswich with three games to go.
The Friday game was billed as Glen Little v David Johnson but they didn’t get the opportunity to play against each other. Forest only used Johnson for the last 14 minutes and by then Glen had already been substituted, replaced at half time.
Sheffield United lost 2-0 at Preston where Craig Brown was seen wandering around helplessly after he was unable to find anything to complain about but the Blades like Reading look virtually certain play off contenders now.
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Down at the bottom Brighton were the only losers in the bottom four with that 2-0 reverse at Leicester whilst the two teams below them, Sheffield Wednesday and Grimsby, fought out a 0-0 draw at Hillsborough.
Stoke though got back to winning ways with a 2-1 home win against Franchise, the Potters have now lost just once in nine games since our win there at the beginning of March. They are four points above Brighton and are now looking the favourites to avoid the drop.
Walsall look just about safe now having picked up a point in a 0-0 draw at home to Norwich, a result that should also ensure the Canaries miss out on the play offs.
Elsewhere there were home wins for Bradford (2-1 against Watford) and Derby who beat Coventry 1-0 whilst managerless Palace drew 0-0 at home to Rotherham.
Coventry were doing very nicely thank you very much when they were borrowing players from here there and everywhere. More recently they have hit the worst spell of any side in the division and a 2-0 win at Grimsby at the beginning of March is their only win since Boxing Day, a run of eighteen games.
Monday could see some definites in the play off positions and some clubs could be relegated depending on results.
This week's fixtures are as follows (all 3:00 p.m. kick off unless shown otherwise):
Monday 21st April
Brighton and Hove Albion v Sheffield Wednesday
Coventry City v Stoke City
Franchise v Preston North End
Gillingham v Bradford City
Grimsby Town v Walsall
Millwall v Crystal Palace
Norwich City v Wolverhampton Wanderers (5:35 p.m.)
Nottingham Forest v Burnley
Portsmouth v Reading
Rotherham United v Ipswich Town
Sheffield United v Leicester City (12:30 p.m.)
Watford v Derby County
Saturday 26th April
Brighton and Hove Albion v Watford
Burnley v Sheffield Wednesday (1:30 p.m.)
Coventry City v Gillingham
Crystal Palace v Stoke City
Ipswich Town v Franchise
Nottingham Forest v Millwall
Preston North End v Bradford City
Reading v Grimsby Town
Sheffield United v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Walsall v Derby County
Sunday 27th April
Leicester City v Norwich City (12 noon)
Portsmouth v Rotherham United (6:30 p.m.)
Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
23: David Johnson (Nottm. Forest)
20: David Connolly (Franchise)
20: Marlon Harewood (Nottm. Forest)
20: Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth)
17: Paul Dickov (Leicester)
17: Kenny Miller (Wolves)
17: Neil Shipperley (Franchise)
16: Richard Cresswell (Preston)
16: Nicky Forster (Reading)
15: Andy Gray (Bradford)
15: Gareth Taylor (Burnley)
14: Pablo Counago (Ipswich)
14: Steve Kabba (Sheffield United inc. 1 for Palace & 6 for Grimsby)
14: Alan Lee (Rotherham)
13: Michael Brown (Sheffield United)
13: Darren Byfield (Rotherham)
13: Paul McVeigh (Norwich)
12: Nathan Blake (Wolves)
12: Brian Deane (Leicester)
12: Paul Shaw (Gillingham)