Ten rounds of games remain in the 2021 League Of Ireland Premier Division season.
With that stat to the forefront, the job of work for Marc Bircham and the Blues becomes all the starker.
A fantastic run of form in recent weeks with wins over Finn Harps, Sligo Rovers, Drogheda, Boh's, Longford, and Dundalk created a boost in mood for players and fans alike; but the team are still well from clear of a relegation battle.
Eighth place with a one-point advantage over Dundalk - who still have two games in hand thanks to their European endeavors - does not make for comfortable reading if your hopes are set on being in the Premier Division for 2022.
The most recent game for the Blues was last weekend's home tie with Dundalk, where for the third or fourth week in a row, a late second-half fightback was needed to secure a point from a team where in reality, all three were a must.
With that fixture put behind him, the Blues boss says that the League Leaders Shamrock Rovers provide a very different challenge this weekend.
A different animal now. Again, we'll look at it to see what we can do to try and get a win out of it because we will be going up to win it. Once we get that out of the way, we've got the cup next week so three different types of games and three different types of teams that I'll be picking for them
The manager recently told WLR Sport that he was becoming concerned that his team had started to show form in the second 45 of each game they were playing. Last weekend's game being a prime example; a timid first half, followed by a powerful emergence from the dressing rooms. Ahead of this weeks game, he is repeating the same sentiments.
You look at the other night, we let a goal in after five minutes and it makes it a different game altogether. We got to look at ourselves, look at our gameplan, our own personal performance. The lads analyse their games afterwards; I send them their game so that they can analyse it as a personal performance and as a team performance. We talk about that in training; always trying to improve for the next game.
Bircham who cut his teeth as a coach at his beloved QPR as well as his second home Milwall has long spoken of how much he values training ground performances of players. Speaking to this station and other media outlets, he is always quick to remind us that if a player is not putting in a fair shift midweek, then he won't be seeing a pitch come the weekend.
While he is now fortunate to have a strong bench of players who have the capacity to change a game, he still advocates for team selection being made when the hard work is being done in Carriganore and the RSC.
I had an idea probably on Monday - and then it's up to the players to change your mind or confirm what you need for the game. What I do every week; I probably outline in my mind what team I want to play and what players I want to pick, but then players can force their way into the reckoning with their performances in training
