STEVE Bruce has been waiting for this moment. Welcome to the "tickly bit." After eight months and 38 games, Hull City's season has rounded the last bend and stares down the final yards of the home straight.
Masters of their own destiny, sustained success between now and May 4 will guide the Tigers back to the Premier League. Bruce has been here before. And he likes it.
As manager of Birmingham City, the 52-year-old won promotion out of the Championship in 2002 and 2007.
A personal hat-trick is just eight games away and experience offers Bruce protection against the all-consuming focus that will come his and City's way.
"I'd like to think I thrive on the pressure," explained the City boss from his office at the club's Cottingham training ground.
"There's many, many worse pressures to be under and that word gets used too much in football.
"The real pressure in your life is when you haven't got enough food on the table and you can't pay the bills.
"There's plenty of people around here who will have fallen on hard times recently and that's the real pressure. The one thing I've learned from 600 and odd games is that you've got to earn your money now and calm everyone down.
"You've got to play with freedom. There's no point getting edgy or tense, that's when you lose sight of it all."
Bruce's last two seasons in the Championship both enjoyed happy endings.
In 2002, his first season at St Andrews, it was a late surge into the top six and up through the play-offs.
In 2007, following relegation from the Premier League, it was a runners-up spot behind Sunderland.
City have their focus on joining leaders Cardiff on a direct path towards the top flight and Bruce knows it will come down to the finest margins in the tightest of promotion battles.
"I know what it takes," he added. "Sometimes you need the bounce of a ball or a bit of luck.
"Past experience can help you, of course, but I know that you always need that little bit of fortune to go your way.
"When I was at Birmingham I can remember my big reserve goalkeeper Colin Doyle saving a last-minute penalty against Wolves that won us the game 3-2.
"I knew then that it was maybe our turn. You need those little things to go your way and hopefully we get one or two of those in the last eight games."
The Tigers have exceeded all of Bruce's expectations in coming this far during his first season at the KC.
Since winning 2-1 at Bristol in October, City have been ever-present in the top six and after a brilliant run through December, held on to second with encouraging regularity.
This evening's trip to Huddersfield can consolidate their position in the automatic promotion places and further underline a hugely progressive campaign.
"If I'm going to be honest, the day I watched us at Hartlepool in pre-season I drove home scratching my head thinking 'Blimey, we've got a job on our hands here!'" joked Bruce.
"That's no disrespect to anyone involved on that day but we were lucky to draw 1-1 with a side that's bottom of League One. I was struggling to be optimistic after that.
"I knew then we had a job to do. So if you'd have offered me second with eight games to go, I'd have snatched your hand off.
"Especially when you look at the number of injuries we've had to deal with, it's been a fantastic effort. Now we've just got to finish it off."
