Darren Moore says Sheffield Wednesday perspective crucial as Barnsley FC go all out for six wins
The Owls travel to Burton Albion on Saturday top of the table but even automatic promotion is theoretically out of their hands.
Plymouth Argyle will replace them with victory in the noon kick-off at Exeter City.
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Hide AdThe Pilgrims are a point behind with a game in hand, and Ipswich Town are third, one point further back. They too have an extra game to play.
Fourth-placed Barnsley are five points behind Plymouth. They also have six matches left.
The Owls have inadvertently made it more exciting by going six matches without victory, a run they ended by beating Accrington Stanley 3-0 on Monday.
Manager Moore says the key was looking beyond just results in that demoralising sequence.
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Hide Ad"That's always been my approach," he says. "Sometimes you might get some important messages from a game that might give you the answers for the next one.
"Usually it can keep you on track or you can lose your mindset or be taken away from it.
"It's my job, really, that when things may see a certain way outside I need to have the ability to look through that and see that actually at Cheltenham, bar a couple of mistakes, it was okay, Lincoln at home we were solid enough bar one lapse of concentration that was a mistake by us again but the performance when you analysed it was okay. And then certainly looking at the Oxford game from the technical area I felt it again.
"So it was about letting the players see that because we've got to emotionally be in it with them.
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Hide Ad"We have the real insight from the dressing room of the emotional state of the game even though it may be perceived elsewhere a different way.
"It's about being in the arena so when all this is going off we know the true meaning of an incident and it's about being able to communicate that to the players from a psychological point of view because they're the ones who cross that white line and have to add to their performances (in the next game).
"If you break down those three games you will see there were positive points for us as a team going into the Accrington game.
"Every game we've had to turn the page and look to build on the last game and we've got a game at Burton to focus on.
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Hide Ad"From the start of the season we've prepared our mindset and mentality and that's not changed."
The games against Cheltenham Town, Lincoln City and Oxford United were all drawn, meaning Wednesday are unbeaten in four games.
The Owls have sold all 1,637 of their tickets at the 6,912-capacity ground. The support they have had this season has been tremendous, but it does bring its own pressures when Moore is trying to keep perspective within his squad.
"It's not so much what's being said inside the football club, it's the outside noise from people who can almost see the finish line, and maintaining that level of professionalism," says Moore, who is without Mallik Wilks and Reece James after injuries picked up on Easter Monday.
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Hide Ad"Nothing's really changed, it's just making sure we're looking after the small details and improving individuals as a group.
"It doesn't change the dynamics.
"The small details matter the most because they show the level of improvement and we just want to max out what we are. It takes concentration, consistency and improving on those small details."
With catching up to do, Barnsley manger Michael Duff's target is simple: to win all six remaining games, starting at bottom-of-the-table Forest Green Rovers on Saturday. At worst it will take his team into the play-offs with the sort of form that can give them a serious chance of winning them.
It will shape his thinking in the closing stages of tight games, says Duff, who is going all-out for victory in Gloucestershire and every match thereafter.
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Hide Ad"That will be the aim," said Duff. “Whether we have to or not, I don't know.
"We know draws are no good. I'd rather lose the game 1-0 trying to win it 1-0.
"Earlier in the season, whoever you are against, a point away from home is never a bad result. But if there's 10 minutes to go and we can make a positive change, we will make it because we will be trying to win every game.
"The narrative always changes from the outside. When you are in mid-table, it's can you get in the top 10? Then, it's can you get in the play-offs and now it's can you get in the top two? From the players' point of view, they just need to deliver performances."
Anything but a win will relegate Duncan Ferguson's Forest Green, who are playing in the third tier for the first time this season.