Upwardly Mobile

Two fixtures with Portsmouth await the Pilgrims in May, as they aim to go one step further than last season's campaign and book a place at Wembley Stadium for the final. Doing so would be a deserved ending for Adams' first season in charge, which has seen the Pilgrims rise to become genuine contenders in an extremely competitive division.

"When I came here at the football club," said Derek, "I said that I would try and improve things, and I've done that.

"I've come here and we've played entertaining football. We've been able to get to 78 points already; we've had the most away wins for a long time; we've picked up good victories. From my point of view there's a lot of good teams in this league, and it's been difficult."

Whilst automatic promotion seemed achievable at earlier points in the campaign, the Greens will now have to refocus and aim to achieve promotion the harder – yet perhaps more glamorous - way. Adams understands any short-term despondency, but is feeling anything but negative about his side's current situation.

"They're disappointed because the game's just finished, but they can't be disappointed with the season we've had," Derek said about the team.

"You could be like other teams in this division, where next Saturday's the end of the season for them and they've got nothing else to play for. We've won 23 games this season and we've done exceptionally well away from home."