Town’s 3-2 win at Blackpool in November played an important part in the Blues’ season, according to assistant boss Terry Connor. Having been 1-0 down and playing poorly at the break, Town successfully switched to a three-man frontline and staged a dramatic turnaround and should have had the game won well before Daryl Murphy’s last-gasp winner.

“When all was said and done we won the game and it was three points for winning the game,” Connor said.

“But the way we came back and the way we changed our formation at half-time was a significant part of the season and I think it showed us that we could play in a number of systems and be effective.

“People like Frank Nouble were important to that and I think it’s carried us in good stead going forward.”

The Blues had employed the 4-3-3 system regularly since then, while also switching back to 4-4-2 on occasion.

The Town assistant boss dismisses the suggestion that Town need to win Saturday’s match with games against Leicester and Birmingham, which appear tougher on paper, up next.

“On paper maybe, but you’ve got to play them on grass, that’s the difference, he said. “We want to beat Blackpool because we want to win.

“We want to beat Blackpool at home and then Leicester and Birmingham and all the other teams will look after themselves. It’s important that we go into the game looking to take three points from Blackpool.”

Saturday’s game sees former Town striker Michael Chopra return to Portman Road for the first time since his summer departure, although the 30-year-old may not be involved having made only six starts and 14 sub appearances for the Seasiders, so far without scoring.

“I haven’t picked their team, so I don’t know if he’s even involved or travelled down, but Michael’s a very, very good player and we all know his goalscoring record,” Connor added.

“You always are a little bit wary when a player with his pedigree comes back, but we’ll treat him as every other opponent, we’ll try and stop his strengths and work on the weaknesses.

“I think Michael will receive a good reception from the lads but we’ll treat it like any other player coming back.”

In addition to Chopra, there are other faces in the Blackpool squad familiar to Connor: “We had Andy Keogh [at Wolves] and Stephen Dobbie’s been a thorn in our side for many a year, so they’re good players, good Championship players.

“You only have to blink and you can be a goal down and lose the game because of it, whether you’re playing Leicester or Yeovil at the two ends of the league. Every game is basically the same and it takes a little bit of something that changes the course of that game.”

He says the Tangerines’ interim player-manager Barry Ferguson has made a good start to his time as boss by bringing in the likes of Keogh and Dobbie: “He was a top class player and I’m sure he’ll want to bring a lot of those qualities into the management side of things.

“It obviously takes a little bit of time but he’s made a good start by bringing in good quality players and I’m sure that will stand Blackpool in good stead, after tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Connor says the heavy rain hasn’t had too much impact on training, although the squad did spend one day at Portman Road rather than Playford Road earlier in the week: “Not with the schedule, we’ve just changed the venue.

“On Tuesday we trained at Portman Road, we felt that that was the right thing to do, we used the pitch down there.

“The training ground pitches, although they’ve not been great and the weather’s not been great, we’ve been able to find areas where we can train. We’ve not had to change our plans radically.”

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