CAMERON Jerome says Wanderers must look themselves in the mirror for reasons as to why they could miss out on automatic promotion.

The experienced striker delivered an honest verdict after Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw at home to Shrewsbury Town, which effectively handed second spot to Derby County.

Ian Evatt’s side can still catch the Rams but not without a shock result at Cambridge United on Saturday, a home win against Port Vale and a considerable goal swing on the final weekend.

And though Jerome believes the club can pick themselves up and make a successful job of the play-offs he admits their failure to kill off Portsmouth and Shrewsbury in the last two games has been an all-too-familiar tale.

“We had a slight hangover from Saturday and didn’t really start the game with our normal zest and tempo,” he said after a game where he had scored his first league goal for the club. “And the goals we conceded were really disappointing from our perspective.

“It has been the story of the second half of this season that we have conceded at crucial moments and conceded first too. And we have also not managed to capitalise on opportunities when they came our way at crucial times.

“No individual is to blame, it is a collective, and we have to dust ourselves down. Anything can happen in football, but we need to have our minds ready for the post-season at this stage, especially after results at the weekend, it looks like automatics are a long shot now.

“You have to reset, individually and as a group. We have a few players coming back from injury at the moment so hopefully them having a couple of games to get back up to speed, get some more training, it will do us the world of good too.

“I think we have to face the reality and the facts sometimes. Automatic promotion isn’t over yet but there is still another avenue to go down and it is the best way to get promoted, I’d definitely say that.

“But ultimately you have to look at yourselves sometimes. We have been in the position so many times where other teams haven’t done what they needed to do but we haven’t done the business either.

“It is how you are over a 46-game season and if we fall short then we haven’t been good enough. That is just the way it is.

“So many times this season we have had people compliment our style of play, the players within the squad, but you have to show it week after week, you can’t just turn it on and off.”

Wanderers are guaranteed fourth spot, so will definitely be playing at home in the second leg of the play-off semi-final.

The likes of Dion Charles, Dan Nlundulu and Victor Adeboyejo are coming back to fitness and though there are also injury worries elsewhere – with Ricardo Santos, Gethin Jones and Josh Sheehan nursing ailments – Jerome feels it could be time to draw a line in the sand and attack the play-offs with everything the club has got.

“Even after Saturday’s brilliant performance we didn’t get the result we desired,” he said. “There was another opportunity to add pressure, take it into the weekend and the one after, but that ship has probably sailed now. We just need a little reset and to re-evaluate things now.

“We need to have that mindset of showing everyone we are the ‘next best’ and if that is all the way through to Wembley and the play-offs then so be it.

“Our objective was to get promoted from the start of the season and it doesn’t matter how you get there. What matters now is getting our minds right.”