NIGEL Clough knows his Burton Albion side have some tough tests coming up in the final seven games of the season - but says The Brewers will do all they can to win each one.
Albion's run-in begins tomorrow with a game at home to promotion-chasing Barnsley (3pm kick-off), who Albion drew 0-0 with at Oakwell back in February.
That is followed by a trip to Sunderland the following Tuesday, two of four sides chasing promotion that The Brewers will face in the final seven games.
And Clough believes that run, starting with the visit of the Tykes tomorrow, is an ideal way for his side to measure where they are in comparison to those teams currently in the top six.
"(Barnsley) are a whole different challenge to the previous (two home) games," said Clough, referring to our 3-0 win over Blackpool and our 5-2 defeat of Accrington Stanley.
"When you’re that many games unbeaten, a resilience builds up which they exhibited at Walsall a few weeks ago, despite being second-best at times. We know Cauley Woodrow’s quality - he’s likely to get a goal at any time - Alex Mowatt in midfield is one of the best in the league. He, as much as anybody, allows them to play.
"Teams are going to lose some-time - and we want to do everything we can to win our last seven games. We’ve got some testing ones, with four of those against top six sides, but it’s a brilliant challenge for us to end the season on a high and where we are at this stage, how close we are to those teams.
"Scoring eight goals in our last two home games - we hope that continues and we get another one or two on Saturday."
Clough believes it is no surprise that Barnsley are challenging at the top of the table this season, given the quality that manager Daniel Stendel possesses.
"They’re up there for a reason - because they’re one of the best teams," said Clough.
"Despite relegation, they invested wisely in the summer and while I think it was a blow for them to lose Kieffer Moore (for the rest of the season), I think the strength of their squad is that they’ve handled it.
"They’re still right up there. It looks like them, Sunderland or Portsmouth who will be joining Luton (for automatic promotion), so it looks like it will be an interesting last few weeks."