Ipswich Town column: This is what Joey Sadler feels Blues need from last six for automatic promotion

After Monday’s draw with Cheltenham, Ipswich Town are now just six games away from potential automatic promotion to The Championship and we're certainly in for a fascinating ride from now until the end of the season.

On paper, the 1-1 draw doesn’t look too bad, with Town’s winning run always likely to come to an end and Cheltenham being one of those sides who just don’t make it easy for you.

However, it has to be said the manner in which Town threw away all three points was bitterly disappointing and felt like a defeat in some ways.

Christian Walton has been magnificent the last few weeks and I for one do not want to question his goalkeeping attributes, but it was a mistake by our shot-stopper. And after 950 minutes without conceding a single goal it was the most frustrating sort of way for that run to come to an end. That said we have to brush ourselves down and go again, as there is no time for feeling sorry for yourself now.

If you had have said two months ago that Town would still have a shot at winning the league with six games to go, I’m not sure many would’ve believed you. But here we are, two points off top with a game in hand and still the most ‘in-form’ team in the division.

Kieran McKenna and his team have done an excellent job getting us into this position but as we all know, the toughest part is yet to come and these final six are the biggest matches of Ipswich Town’s most-recent history.

It means there is no time for mistakes and Town simply must win their next two matches, which arguably could be considered the most favourable from their remaining fixtures.

Charlton on Saturday and Port Vale on Tuesday, both at home, are followed by tricky trips to Peterborough and Barnsley in a four day cycle which you feel will almost certainly ‘make or break’ our season.

So what will it take for us fans to not have to go through the anguish and drama that a play-off extension to our season could bestow on us?

I think we need to win four of the remaining six, drawing the other two which would leave Town on 96 points and surely a safe bet for an automatic promotion place.

I do, however, think one of those mentioned wins needs to come against either Peterborough or Barnsley.

McKenna’s men have shown they can go away to places like Bolton and Derby and win and I think if we’re serious about finishing top two, or even winning the thing, then we need to be taking all three at either of them two. It would certainly show the league and ourselves that we are one of the top dogs in this division.

Sheffield Wednesday, despite now being back on top of the pile courtesy of having played a game extra, have had a wobble and Plymouth have lost two of their last five. So if Town can finish the season in the form that’s seen them climb back into the automatic promotion picture, then I think we’ll have enough to get the job done.

How are your nerves? Well mine are already feeling it but along with excitement amid the dreaming of where we could be in a month's time.

So come on Ipswich, let’s keep on going and get the job done. Up the Town!