TOWN boss Mark Cooper has not given up on automatic promotion but has already began planning out a way through the League One play-offs.

Successive 3-0 defeats against promotion rivals MK Dons and Bristol City last week have seen Town fall 10 points off the top two.

Cooper is still optimistic that his troops can overhaul that deficit before the curtain comes down on the campaign in May but thinks it will stand Town in good stead to get some early preparation in place for what is sure to be a dogfight in the play-offs.

Cooper told the local media: “First of all we’ve got to make sure we get enough points to be in the play-offs.

“If we are successful at that then we have got to plan which players we need to give game time to and which players we need to rest to make sure that they are right at it for the first play-off game.

“We know now that more or less we’re going to be in the play-offs, so we can really plan and prepare with that in mind, and anything else will be a bonus.

“It’s just being realistic. I’ve got to make sure that I say the right thing and make sure that we are mathematically in the play-offs before I start looking at other things, because I would look incredibly stupid if I started experimenting and we missed out on the play-offs.

“We’ll prepare so we are ready for a real flying and exciting end to the season.”

If Town are to avoid the lottery of the play-offs at the end of the season then it is vital that they get back to winning ways against Peterborough United today.

Although Town shipped six goals without reply to promotion rivals this week, Cooper says there is still plenty of positivity in the camp.

He said: “They seem in good spirits. On the coach coming back (from Bristol City) they realised they’d played well. We just missed chances at the wrong times.

“I felt the performance was good and if we keep playing like that we’re going to win more games on the run in than we lose.”