Derby County’s play-off hopes were given a boost last night after Watford gave them a helping hand in their quest for a place in the top six.

The Hornets beat sixth-placed Wrexham 3-1 to leave the Rams three points off the play-off positions ahead of another crucial round of fixtures this weekend.

Wrexham could fall out of the top six tonight if Southampton can beat Norwich with the end of the season looking set to be a fascinating finale.

Former Wrexham captain Ben Tozer believes his previous club mustn’t lose focus. “They’ve just got to look ahead and make sure they’re looking up rather than behind them,” the ex-defender told BBC Radio Wales.

“The second you start looking over your shoulder and start worrying about what’s behind you, you start to take your eye off what’s really possible and what the potential is.”

Here we take a look at how the play-off rivals are shaping up

Wrexham 6th, 60 points

Speaking at Vicarage Road, Parkinson commented: “We’ll just digest this game and have a couple of days to recover, and then of course, Saturday is a great game for us to go into and respond.

“We will pick ourselves back up, we have got another terrific game to go into at the weekend [vs Sheffield United away].

“The lads are obviously a little bit quiet in the dressing room because we have done so well on our travels recently.

“But that second half perfomance gave me a lot of heart because the determination and desire to get back in the game was excellent and we really should have got at least a draw.”

Southampton 7th, 57 points

Tonda Eckert expressed satisfaction with his team’s victory at Coventry over the weekend – and is keen to witness a comparable standard of performance against Norwich this evening.

“Yeah. I was not one of the ones who worried about Coventry because, in the end, you need to live that confidence every single day. You need to have the conviction that you go into every game and win. If you play Fulham, if you play Coventry, if you play Norwich, if you play Arsenal.

“The preparation is the same. If you don’t find that conviction in yourself that you’re going to win, you’re probably not going to. That has been consistent.

“Some good teams that we are facing now have been the same over the last games. We are up for the challenge and we’ll be going strong tomorrow [Wednesday].”

Derby 8th, 57 points

Sammie Szmodics addressed the club media following Monday evening’s 1-0 victory at Portsmouth: “It wasn’t our best performance. These are the games if you want to get promoted you have got to come and win, win dirty, win ugly and we have done that and it’s a massive three points.”

Watford 9th, 55 points

Manager Ed Still was delighted with the triumph over Wrexham. “I’m delighted with the performance and the result,” he said.

“To have only picked up a point from the last two games was not fair based on what we did and how many chances we created.

“To have such a quick turnaround from the Stoke game on Saturday and to see how the team and the players took onboard those lessons and put that performance in this evening, that was the really big positive.

“To be able to put it to bed in the fashion that we did with Doumbia and Bove at the end makes the feeling a little bit stronger.”

Birmingham 10th, 53 points

Blues struggled to overcome Sheffield United last Saturday, striking the frame of the goal four times but ultimately settling for a 1-1 stalemate.

Speaking afterwards, Patrick Roberts – who assisted Sunderland’s promotion campaign last season – maintained a positive outlook. “We’ve got a few big games coming up so we need to really capitalise on that and put a good run together.

“Of course [we can]. I’ve been in this league so long. I’ve been down the bottom, I’ve been down the middle, I’ve been up in the play-offs and you just never know.

“So there’s a lot of football still to be played, you pick up a lot of wins then you just never know at the end of the season.

“The belief’s still there, the manager has belief in us, us as players have belief. It’s just about getting on the pitch and doing it. We are good players, we are a good team, we know that.”