Lewis Grabban is more than well versed on the joy – and particularly the anguish – the play-offs can inspire.

The striker has played a part in the end of season showdown four times, with four different clubs.

Grabban has reached the final on every occasion, with Millwall, Norwich, Reading and Aston Villa – but has won promotion only once, with Norwich.

There have generally only been the finest of margins involved.

But the most recent Wembley defeat came last season, as Fulham triumphed over Steve Bruce’s Villa, to earn their place at the top table, before Grabban then completed a summer move to Nottingham Forest.

Lewis Grabban celebrates scoring for Nottingham Forest against Ipswich Town

These experiences have taught Grabban several valuable lessons.

And one is particularly telling for the Reds, as they look to make a late push for the top six, with eight games remaining.

It is that, if you do manage to sneak into the reckoning at the last moment, you have as much chance as anyone, of securing promotion.

In some senses, in fact, there is a mental advantage to coming up on the rails in the final furlong – because it feels like a victory, rather than the consolation prize that finishing third can often be viewed as.

And that is precisely what Martin O’Neill’s side will be aiming for, when they return to action against Swansea after the international break.

“I have played for teams who have been aiming for the automatic places and, by default, have ended up in the play-offs when they have not made it,” said Grabban.

“There is a little bit of disappointment there when that happens; there is a different mentality when you end up in the play-offs that way.

“But the team that does get into sixth place at the last minute – they are often the ones who have momentum, because they have had to perform to get themselves in there.

“It is two different ends of the spectrum.

“The play-offs are unique – the team that believes they are going to win normally do.”

Forest, of course, have a very long way to go before they can dare to daydream about a trip to Wembley.

Not least because, if they are to secure a place in the top six, they will almost certainly need to do something they have not done since September, by winning back-to-back games, in the coming weeks.

Nottingham Forest boss Martin O'Neill and assistant Roy Keane

In fact, with eight games left to play, Forest are going to have to produce the kind of run they have not managed all season, under Aitor Karanka or Martin O’Neill.

But if Forest can finally find their consistency now, why not?

“A few teams have struggled with the same thing as us – not being able to find that consistency; not being able to push on,” added Grabban.

“That is why the gap has not got any bigger than it has been all season. We always seem to have been between two to five points of the play-offs; always within a couple of wins of being in there.

“I think there are a few teams in our position, but hopefully we will be able to find the consistency that will take us in there.

“This could be the time, you never know… but that has been the story of the season.

“Yet somehow we are still in touching distance of where we want to be. If we can find our consistency, now would be a good time because, for sure.

“That would take us into the play-offs, if we can do that.”

Grabban has not sat and predicted what the rest of the season might hold for every team involved in the play-offs race – predicting the outcome of Championship matches is next to impossible, recently.

But when he looks at Forest’s fixtures, Grabban does find reason for optimism.

And it is not over simplifying things when he points out that, if Forest can win a large proportion of their own games, they will have a good chance of achieving their objectives.

“I think our run-in is quite good – and a lot of the teams in there have to play each other as well. I think that, if we can get a few wins together, we will end up being in there,” said Grabban.

“I don’t tend to look too much at what the other teams might do. You can try and predict ‘they might win there’ or ‘they might lose that one’. But it never really works out that way in the Championship, does it?

“It hasn’t worked out like that for us so far, but we just need to concentrate on our own performances.

“After the international break, we need to show our determination to win games. That’s it.”

Nottingham Forest's Joao Carvalho reacts after the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa

Forest suffered a painful defeat in their last home outing, but still boast the fifth best home record in the Championship, collecting 34 of their 54 points at the City Ground.

And Grabban believes that – along with the plans to redevelop the stadium into a 38,000 capacity world-class venue – are sources of both optimism and motivation.

“I think it is just positive all round,” said Grabban, who is expected to return to action against the Swans, after being sidelined for a month with the Achilles problem that has bothered him all season.

“You want to be at a club that is always progressing and the plans for the stadium are something to look forward to, for the future.

“You want to have a progressive club; a club that wants to do well and is not happy to stand still.

“The lads have been strong at home recently, prior to Villa. We need to continue that and find ourselves some positives away from home.

“We need to believe we can win every home game we have got left and try to pick up points away from home, as well. We can do it.

“There is still plenty to play for, even if results have not been what we wanted recently.

“We are hoping to get a few players back from injury, Michael Dawson being one of them. Hopefully we can have a real push until the end of the season.”

If Forest do manage to sneak into the play-offs party, Grabban will hope his theory is proved to be correct – and the Reds can ultimately gatecrash the Premier League as well.