CHRIS Birchall is hoping Port Vale can wrap up their promotion to League One by the end of the week.
Six points from their final four games will make Vale certain of automatic elevation.
And with two winnable fixtures coming up – at home to rock-bottom Aldershot tomorrow and at mid-table Rochdale on Saturday – Birchall is confident they'll soon be cracking open the champagne.
"Tomorrow is an absolutely vital game for us," he said.
"If we can get another win, then we're nearly there.
"It will depend on how other results go, but we could finish it off this week."
Back-to-back wins would leave Vale on 80 points, with already-promoted Gillingham and Northampton the only teams now able to get more than 79.
Results over the weekend, when several of their rivals suffered shock defeats, mean the issue could even be virtually settled tomorrow, though it seems unlikely.
Victory against the Shots, combined with losses for both Rotherham (at home to Exeter) and Burton (at home to Wycombe), would mean Micky Adams's men could only be denied if Cheltenham somehow made up a 30-goal deficit in three games.
Aldershot will arrive in Burslem tomorrow night staring relegation in the face, but Birchall is nonetheless expecting a tough test.
"Anyone can beat anyone else on the day," he added, "so no-one will be thinking of an easy game just because they're bottom and we've just scored a hatful of goals."
Birchall, who had been on international duty with Trinidad and Tobago, returned to the team for Friday's 7-1 rout of Burton in front of nearly 11,000 fans.
"It was a great win and it was nice to do it in front of a big crowd," he said.
"The last thing we wanted to do was disappoint them because we want them back tomorrow and for the rest of the run-in."