Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond feels his side's performance in their 32-9 win over Bath is a possible turning point in their season.
The Sharks were excellent in the second 40 at the AJ Bell Stadium as they claimed a fine bonus-point victory in the Premiership fixture.
It was their third straight win in the league and Diamond believes this momentum is the perfect springboard for his men going into 2018.
"With that bonus point we have got exactly the number of points I thought we would have at this stage of the season. Now we've got to have a good second half of the season to try and push for that top six/top four," he told the Sale website.
"We need to go to Gloucester next week and be competitive.
"We've got fantastic players, we've got a squad unlike we've ever had before where Marland Yarde, Josh Beaumont and Will Addison, who are coming back from injury, wouldn't probably get on the bench at this moment in time.
"As a club, we have set ourselves a target to be a highly competitive team. We lost at home to Newcastle which we were disappointed about but the wins and bonus points we have picked up since then mean that loss has gone from our memory."
He continued: "It's difficult for teams to come and beat us if I'm honest but a lot of the credit for that second-half performance isn't down to me and the coaches, it's down to the players. AJ MacGinty and Jono Ross grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck at half-time. I'm delighted really, it's as if I've not been in there!
"We knew a couple of their key players weren't available to them and if sides come up to Manchester with that mentality we've got to attempt to put it on them and we managed to deliver that in the second half.
"We're on an even keel. Moving our kick-offs to Saturdays and the infrastructure improvements around the stadium with the new access bridge opening up has also helped.
"There was a big crowd in on Saturday and we want them to come back and if we play like we did in the second half they'll swim that canal never mind come over the bridge!"
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