Having now beaten their nearest playoff rivals in the Championship in Wrexham and Derby County, Southampton will be aiming to consolidate a top-six spot across more matches to come in April.
That's easier said than done, but at the moment, the Saints look invincible, with the 2-1 win over John Eustace's men extending the South Coast side's unbeaten run to 17 matches.
With an FA Cup semi-final on the horizon, as well, the world very much feels like Southampton's oyster currently, with a hope the bubble doesn't suddenly burst if Tonda Eckert's side do show chinks in their armour.
Southampton will believe they can comfortably secure the playoffs
Looking at the Southampton situation at the moment, it does appear as if the confidence is just growing more and more, with every waking day.
There have been no stumbles for quite some time, now, as the South Coast titans seem to just be taking things on a game-to-game basis.
A win against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night would seriously bolster their chances of securing the playoffs with ease, as the Saints would find themselves on a bumper 72 points, eight points ahead of seventh placed Wrexham, who know all too well the firepower of Eckert and Co.
Reaching that sizeable 72 point tally would mean that the relegated side would be level on points with Middlesbrough in fourth, with all eyes down the road on Portsmouth's match with Ipswich Town, as - hypothetically - if their arch rivals were to beat the Tractor Boys on Tuesday evening, and Southampton were to win, Eckert's men would be just three points off the coveted top two.
It's a frankly crazy set of circumstances, with Will Still once having this side near the relegation zone, before he got dismissed for Eckert to work his insane magic.
Ryan Manning, who has been a regular under several Saints regimes, certainly believes automatic promotion could be on the cards, with an unbelievable confidence coursing through the veins of the club currently.
Manning's comments on automatic promotion
The Irish defender is one of the more senior figures in the German's confident camp at the moment, with Manning coming in at 29 years of age, alongside his 112 appearances for the club.
He has been a solid performer all season long, too, with his late free-kick delivery allowing Taylor Harwood-Bellis to nod home the winner versus the Rams. Alongside this fine set-piece moment, Manning would also complete four key passes, register three accurate crosses, and win seven tackles and duels combined.
Fair to say, he's the full package, when bombing down the left flank, with ten goal contributions next to his name this campaign.
He has been here before in attempting to secure promotion, with the loyal number three starting 29 games during the regular 2023/24 season under Russell Martin, which resulted in playoff final ecstasy at Wembley.
Manning might well want to go one better - this time around - and soar up to the Premier League via the top two, with the 29-year-old not ruling out an almighty surge up the standings.
He said, after the dust had settled on the Rams victory: "We've gotten ourselves in a position where we can half think about the automatic promotion spots, but we were 21st in the table at one stage.
Things were going really badly. We are looking at it from the point of view of reaching the playoffs. We've beaten two of the teams around us.
If we manage to keep winning our next three or four, and manage to get ourselves in contention for automatics, then happy days."
Exuding a coolness that's running through the Southampton camp, regardless of who you speak to, it does appear that Manning is quietly backing a late automatic promotion charge.
It would be a fairytale ending to a season full of twists and turns, and with the Saints unbeaten in 17, it cannot be ruled out.