Cardiff City plunged back into the bottom three on Wednesday evening after Derby County pulled off an impressive 2-0 home victory over Preston North End.
The Rams are flying at the moment. They have gone from being unable to buy a win to winning their last four games on the bounce, taking 12 points from a possible 12 which has seen them overtake the Bluebirds in the standings. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
Cardiff's fate is no longer in their own hands, and after their failure to secure enough wins throughout the course of the season, it's a wonder it's taken so long to get to this stage. Nevertheless, there is still seven games remaining, starting with a huge clash against fellow strugglers QPR on Saturday for City.
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Cardiff now find themselves in a position whereby they are looking for a favour from their arch rivals Swansea, who take on Derby in SA1 on the same day.
The Rams' form is alarming for Cardiff, who, by contrast, have struggled to find any sort of consistency throughout the season. Mini unbeaten runs have been undone by winless streaks, but the bottom line is they have won just a measly nine games all season - only Plymouth Argyle (seven) have fewer wins to their name this term.
Thirty winless games out of 39 has Cardiff exactly where they deserve to be. Nevertheless, it's not all over. It's still so close down there and Derby boss John Eustace, speaking after the win over Preston, is not counting his chickens just yet as his side sit one point above the Bluebirds in the drop zone.
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"I think if we're out of it at the end of the season, it's all I'm worried about. We can easily go back into it on Saturday," said Eustace, who was appointed Derby boss in February. "It makes no difference at the moment, we're just working our socks off until the end of the season to make sure we stay out of the bottom three.
"The fans are playing a huge part in what we're doing at the moment. I wanted to come here and create a family and a togetherness that can really help Derby in the future and I feel like we're doing that slowly.
It's just important the fans buy into what we're trying to do here. We want to create that family feel. It's a fantastic football club and I'm here for the long-term and not just the next two or three months."
