NEEDING to win tomorrow to stand any chance of staying in the Championship, Phil Parkinson is not allowing anyone to dwell on their recent past.

Wanderers were beaten 2-0 at the Pirelli Stadium by Burton Albion, meaning their fate is out of their own hands when they take to the field for the 46th time this season.

And in order to get three points from the visit of Nottingham Forest the manager is hoping to see a revitalised group, on the field and in the stands at the Macron.

“We came in on Monday and it’s always a quiet place when you’ve lost a game, but especially a game of that magnitude,” said Parkinson ahead of tomorrow’s crunch clash.

“But we’ve got to bring a freshness, mentally and physically, into the lads’ legs and minds going into this weekend and that’s what we’ve tried to do.

“It’s about making sure we play with the right mentality, we spoke last weekend about how we were the better team but conceded the goal and it knocked the stuffing out of us – we can’t let that happen.

“Something might go against us this weekend, the ref’s decision, they might score a goal, we might be 1-0 down with five minutes to go but you’ve still got a chance of winning a game of football.

“Hopefully it won’t be that way, we’ll get the first goal and we can build from there but we’ve got to show the mentality and the drive and the body language is right on the pitch.

“We’ve got to go into it without a hangover from the Burton game, that’s gone and we’ve discussed what we did wrong and what we could have done better.

“For all of us now, we’ve got to go in, despite the recent run we’ve had, knowing we’ve still got an opportunity to stay in this division.

“We’ve got to prepare the team as well as we can so we can put in an enthusiastic performance and a performance that is from the first minute to the last, that’s the ones who start and the ones who come off the bench.”

The pressure has cranked up each week as Wanderers’ awful run of results has seen them slip to second-bottom in the table.

The last seven games have brought them a single point from a 2-2 draw at Barnsley, one of the sides they hope to leapfrog tomorrow.

That the Whites are not cut adrift after that run is testament to the recovery Parkinson and his men staged following an even longer winless run to kick off the season.

And Parkinson is maintaining a belief they can go above two from three of the Tykes, who visit Derby County, and Burton, who go to Preston North End, with Birmingham – Fulham’s hosts – not yet secure.

“We have got a realistic chance because Preston and Derby have got something to play for, they’re both desperate to get in the play-offs,” he said.

“Fulham go to Birmingham with an opportunity to get automatic promotion so there’s a lot resting on the weekend and, as much as there’s going to be tension at our end, let’s remember there’s going to be a lot of nervous energy at other grounds as well.

“I think after the start we had we’d have probably taken being in contention on the final day, but then after the Villa game we would have said no because we didn’t expect to be in this situation.

“We’re setting up with the structure to give us the best chance of winning the game, we’re getting the lads to block out everything else.

“We’ve got to do that and put the elements together to play better than we have been doing.

“If we get relegated we’ll all wake up on Monday morning and we’ll all still be alive, hopefully, we’ll all have our health and we’ve got to look at it that way as well – we’ve got to make sure the lads understand the magnitude of the game but allow them to play with that freedom as well.

“We’ve got to be able to go into it tense and not really able to play, tension can stop you running, believe it or not, I heard some other managers say pressure can paralyse players and stop them playing with that energy and enthusiasm. Sometimes that can be perceived as not caring or not trying.

“We’ve got to free ourselves up – there’s nothing we can do about anyone else’s results so we’ve just got to go out there and play.”

Parkinson is keeping his fingers crossed that Craig Noone will be able to put himself up for selection, adding: “he has a problem with his hip. He’s had an injection because he’s desperate to be involved.

“He hasn’t trained yet but he’s been out jogging today. We’ll see how he is tomorrow but it’s unfortunate for him because he was one of the bright sparks last Saturday.”