DANNY Wilson believes 50 points will be the precious number required for League One survival this term.

With Plymouth Argyle relegated to the bottom of the stack following their 10-point deduction for declaring an intention to involve administrators at Home Park, Town find themselves one place above the drop zone at present.

And, as their six-way battle for safety hots up, manager Wilson has said the magical half-century could be enough to return third-tier football to the County Ground next season.

“I think a lot teams down in that area are all beating each other at this moment in time, and that points total may not even get to 50.

“But your safety mark is around about that point,” he said.

“Throughout history you would say the 50-point mark. It’s been around there the last couple of seasons and 50 or 51 is what I would expect.

“I don’t think it will be any different this year.”

Wilson reiterated how congested the table has become this time around, and any run of half-decent form could see a side leap several places over a matter of weeks.

But the Robins boss has refused to dive into thinking too far in advance as the first of 14 crucial matches, against Southampton on Saturday, looms large on the horizon.

“It is tight, it’s tight all the way up and I think even the boys in midtable can be looking at the play-offs,” he said.

“That’s how daft it is but we’re not foolish enough to say we’re looking 10 games in front of ourselves.

“The teams are a lot closer together now, the quality is very similar throughout the league.

“There are a couple of teams you’d expect to be up there which we’d have said at the beginning of the season because they’re able to carry big squads and quality players, but the rest are just very similar.

“There’s not more than a couple of outstanding teams in the league.

“They all seem to be able to beat each other, whereas last year it was slightly different.”