With all due respect to the rest of Division One there are only two games that arrest the attention on the final day of the season, Sunday. And even then if Stoke avoid defeat at home to Reading then it will matter not a jot what Brighton do at already relegated Grimsby.
Intriguingly, while most of the expected 20,000 at the Britannia Stadium will have their ears glued to a variety of portable radios, Stoke boss Tony Pulis is adamant that no-one will inform the players about the Brighton score.
He said: "I will have someone I can trust keeping me informed about Brighton because it is important I know what is going on." However Pulis, who has worked miracles for Stoke to even still be in with a very good chance of staving off relegation, added: "Ideally I don't want our players knowing anything and I will have the dressin -room cleared of everyone else at half time to ensure that. I want them focused on our game and our game alone."
Pulis has two chances of keeping his players in the dark, slim and none, given that the fans are unlikely to keep their feelings to themselves when they discover what's going on at Blundell Park. But he is right about one thing and that is his players must be totally focused on beating Reading.
They cannot hope that already doomed Grimsby will prevent Brighton from getting the win they must have and the concentration that was left wanting last Saturday, when the defence went to sleep to allow Dele Adebola to notch an 82nd minute winner, must be total. If Stoke had got the single point they looked odds on to get at Selhurst Park, they wouldn't be in such a tense, nail-biting situation on Sunday.
Stoke left back Marcus Hall is a doubt because of a sore heel and Paul Warhurst continues to struggle with a hamstring injury. City will also be hoping that Sergei Shtaniuk and Brynjar Gunnarsson do not suffer any adverse effects from their return flights after midweek international duty.
Reading manager Alan Pardew has vowed that he will not do as he did in midweek and field a below strength side. Pardew said: "We are professional enough to appreciate our responsibility to both Stoke and Brighton and will not field a weak team."
The Royals have doubts over leading scorer Nicky Forster, who has a calf injury, and Wales' international Adrian Williams, who has a thigh strain. With the play-offs ahead Pardew is unlikely to take any chances on crucial players so if Forster is unfit then either Darius Henderson or Jamie Cureton will deputise. If Williams does not make it then John Mackie will come in.
I saw Reading at Walsall early in the season and was most impressed by their team play and they have borne out that assessment by reaching the play-offs. Conversely I have seen Stoke on more than a dozen occasions and whilst arguing that for most of the season they did not appear good enough for Division One what has stood out is the team's work ethic.
In the early months of the campaign that wasn't enough and the side floundered, but after they held eventual champions Portsmouth to a draw, at The Britannia, they managed to stretch their hard work to the end of games instead of blowing up before the final whistle.
Added to that the boost that Ade Akinbyi might be fit enough to play in a 'winner takes all' game (Tony Pulis' words not mine) I think the incentive of avoiding defeat, that of staying in Divison One, might just swing the result in favour of Stoke City.
Over on the East coast, meanwhile, it is one of the anomalies of the last day that Brighton could beat Grimsby emphatically, and still go down if Stoke avoid defeat against Reading.
Brighton have only won four games on the road this season as they have struggled at the bottom while Grimsby have conceded 37 goals at home, more than any other team in the lower half (with the exception of Burnley but, hell, they conceded 14 in just two games).
But in the same way Sheffield Wednesday have played with a freedom since being relegated, just ask Burnley, maybe Grimsby, who not that long ago beat Liverpool at Anfield in the Worthington Cup, could do the same.
Brighton midfielders Richard Carpenter and Paul Brooker have both recovered from gastric flu and return to the squad while Steve Coppell is set to give Paul Kitson only his seventh start, alongside leading scorer Bobby Zamora.
Grimsby player-manager Paul Groves is set to recall experienced centre half Steve Chettle after resting him in the last game to give a debut to Greg Young. Groves also gave debuts to Graham Hockless and Jake Sagere but in fairness to Stoke City the manager has promised to field his strongest line up so anything Brighton get on Sunday will be earned against as full a strength Mariners side as they can field.
