Monday’s scrappy victory against Accrington Stanley made it 46 points from 23 games for Chris Wilder’s side, a fine achievement given the off-field turmoil that was a constant backdrop of NTFC’s season until recently.
If they can replicate that form over the second half of the campaign, starting on Saturday against Barnet, then they are on course for 92 points come May.
That would be more than enough for automatic promotion based on the past five seasons in League Two when the team finishing third has gone up with as little as 78 and as many as 85 points.