Nigel Clough believes Burton Albion will ultimately be judged on their performances against the sides at their end of the Championship table this season.
Albion picked up some notable scalps during their unlikely survival act last season, beating the likes of Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Leeds United.
This campaign, 12 of their 14 points have come against sides in the bottom half of the division.
They will want that statistic improved further when they take on bottom-of-the-table Sunderland at the Pirelli Stadium tomorrow (3pm) as Albion look to end a five-game losing run on home soil.
And with his side having already beaten 21st-placed Birmingham City and Millwall, currently 18th, Clough recognises the extra value of securing positive results against opponents likely to be fighting it out for survival come May.
"That is it, because it's a double whammy," said the Brewers boss.
"You damage their hopes and you get the points yourselves if we can.
"I think that's where we'll be judged as well, on the results we get against the bottom half of the league.
"The way teams like Wolves are playing at the minute, anybody finds it difficult to get a result against them the way they are going.
"There are two or three teams like that, picking up results - Aston Villa are on a great run at the moment.
"We've just got to try to get something at home and get back to what we were doing last season.
"We've seen glimpses of that against Ipswich Town and Barnsley, but we haven't got the results, therefore the belief and the confidence goes a little bit."
Sunderland will arrive at the Pirelli Stadium under the stewardship of former Wales boss Chris Coleman, who took charge of his first game in a narrow 2-1 loss at Aston Villa in midweek.
So does Coleman's opposite number believe the ex-Fulham manager will have had time to implement a new style on the struggling Black Cats, as they look to ride the famous new-manager bounce against Burton?
"I think it'd be unfair to look at that for Tuesday, being at Villa and everything, and also the fact that he had only had one day with them in preparation for the game," added Clough.
"Leading up to this one, he's had three days preparation.
"If he is changing systems or whatever, he has had time to work on it to get them better prepared.
"We are expecting a slightly different Sunderland team coming on Saturday than we have seen in previous weeks."
