Bolton Wanderers top scorer Dapo Afolayan insists the League One side are simply taking it one game at a time in their bid to reach the play-offs and knows from last season's promotion that looking at the table will not help them achieve their aim.
Wanderers are 10th in League One as things stand and seven points from the top six with 13 games left to play this campaign.
Bolton are in a rich vein of form with seven wins in their last nine games and just one loss, which has seen them creep up the table.
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Wanderers won promotion out of League Two last season with a top three finish which Afolayan played his part in.
But Afolayan pointed out that Wanderers are simply taking it one game at a time as they hope to achieve their goal like they did last campaign, after passing the 13 goal mark for the campaign with his strike against AFC Wimbledon over the weekend as he hopes to match Eoin Doyle's tally from last season.
The atacker said: "You have to treat each game as it comes. I know from being here last year that looking up the table doesn’t help too much, you should only focus on what is in front of you. Then you can end up in the position you want to be in.
“Take each game for what it is and don’t try and look too far into the future.
“I am enjoying my football and expressing myself. It is something we spoke about a lot last year, my goals, and it is something I want to keep improving on.
“I don’t know how many more I can score…. How many games are left?
“Hopefully I can catch Doyler (Eoin Doyle). That is great company to be in because Doyler was phenomenal for us and when he left I wished him all the best because he helped me massively in my career, he taught me such a lot, and it is great to be in that category."
Afolayan is the club's top scorer this season, but the pressure has been eased on him in front of goal in recent weeks with the likes of Amadou Bakayoko and January signing Dion Charles regularly scoring.
The former West Ham United man has praised the impact of Charles and how he is learning from the likes of the former Accrington Stanley man and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson.
And Afolayan understands when he is perhaps not on the pitch, that Wanderers are in good hands and boss Ian Evatt has made those decisions for a reason.
Of Charles, Afolayan said:“He creates opportunities out of pure workrate, which is great. He creates them not just for himself but for the team and all three of us were good out there today. It is what we needed.
“He is really good at what he does, creates things and gives us a lift as well with his work-rate.
“He is always on the shoulder so when I have the ball I get the option to put him in behind. He can finish as well.
“I don’t really see myself as a striker but having their quality around me, even with the little things, the type of player I am, I appreciate it. They bring the team further forward to let me get into the game.
“As a player you want to learn in different ways.
“I love football and I know what I can bring to the team. I always want to be on the pitch and doing what I do, scoring, creating.
“But at the same time I know this team is in capable hands. We have brought in some very good players and the manager knows what he is doing.
“As players we have to trust in the manager and his staff, then when we do get an opportunity make sure we affect things in the right way."
