Wycombe Wanderers go into next week’s crucial Easter programme with their faint hopes of Championship survival still alive, but they have one foot on the relegation trapdoor that leads back into League One.
A dismal run of only one win from the last seven games has left the Chairboys 11 points from safety with just eight games to play.
Manager Gareth Ainsworth remains upbeat, insisting they can still pull off the 'Great Escape', but the odds are heavily stacked against them.
READ MORE: Remember them? Five ex Wycombe players who have gone onto play Premier League football
With their remaining fixtures including matches against Swansea, Bournemouth, Cardiff and Middlesbrough - four teams chasing promotion - Wanderers need a miracle to avoid the drop.
Wycombe drew 0-0 with Coventry City at St Andrew's on March 20 (Prime Media)
In their last outing, a dire goalless draw against Coventry, Ainsworth’s team displayed their usual spirit and commitment but once again lacked the quality to secure the win they desperately needed.
It was a poor spectacle between two teams scared of losing, a game best forgotten.
A record of just six wins from 38 matches has made this a painful season for Wycombe fans, especially since they have been unable to attend most games due to Covid restrictions.
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Wycombe’s first ever campaign at this level was always going to be a huge challenge, but it was made even more difficult by a perfect storm of negative factors.
* Less time to prepare for the season than their rivals after winning promotion through the playoffs in mid-July.
* Insufficient investment in new players with Championship experience.
* Marquee signings Uche Ikpeazu and Ryan Tafazolli missing most of the early months of the season because of injuries.
* Losing the first seven games, meaning they were always playing catch up.
* Being on the wrong end of crucial decisions by referees that cost them valuable points.
Some will say these are excuses, but they are facts.
Adebayo Akinfenwa came on as a sub against Coventry (Prime Media)
It is also a fact that Wanderers are the smallest outfit with the lowest wage bill in a division that includes no fewer than 16 former Premier League clubs and another six who played in the top flight at some stage in their history.
Wycombe are the only club in the Championship who have never played at this level before, a small fish in a very big pond.
It is inevitable that at times they looked out of their depth.
However, there are 48 clubs in Leagues One and Two who would gladly swap places with Wanderers tomorrow, and even if the seemingly inevitable happens and they are relegated, there are plenty of reasons to look back on this historic season with pride.
Up next for Wycombe after the international break is Blackburn Rovers at home.
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