Blues boss Mick McCarthy says Town need a repeat of Saturday’s performance at Birmingham when they travel to Crystal Palace on Tuesday. The game will see two recently installed bosses go head-to-head, the Eagles having appointed ex-Blackpool manager Ian Holloway on Saturday.
McCarthy says while it was by no means a consummate display, the 1-0 win in his opening game at St Andrew’s is a boost for everyone at Portman Road: "We’ll have to repeat all that.
"We worked hard and defended, we’re going to have to play better than we did, but it gives us a bit of encouragement.
"I said if we were to get anything out of the game, let’s [at least] have a clean sheet. If we were walking away with a 0-0 I’d have been happy.”
With the Blues still four points from Charlton in 21st place, he says it could take a little while for Town to climb out of the bottom three: "It might be Christmas before we get that, you don’t know, do you?
"We’ve had a good start, it’s about continuing that. As long as we’re out by May 4th I’m not really bothered.”
He felt Saturday’s display was a vast improvement on the Sheffield Wednesday horror show which he watched on DVD on Thursday: "That was a gutless performance, I thought.
"Everybody likes Paul at the club. He goes and Hutch takes over and there’s a malaise there. It sets in. Why it sets in heaven only knows sometimes. It was so sad for them because they’re mates of mine.
"And they were nervous and they were at home. It happens. You all expect footballers to be these confident, gregarious creatures, but they’re not, they’re actually a pretty insecure bunch. When it’s tough they need something to get them out of it, whatever it might be.”
McCarthy made sure his players showed their appreciation to the 1,054-strong travelling army after the game — Nigel Reo-Coker being called back from the tunnel by his assistant Terry Connor — and he says the Portman Road faithful was amongst his reasons for taking the job: "I looked at the last game at home, there were 17,500 there and they went bottom of the league because of the defeat.
"I was thinking I could get that sort of crowd rocking, I’ve been there when the club’s been doing well. It’s a great club, a lovely club and I’m privileged to be there.”
Returning to Tuesday’s game, he says he expects a tough evening at Selhurst Park, the Eagles having beaten Blackburn 2-0 in Holloway's inaugural game with his new club: "They look like they’ve got a good team.
"Ollie will have an impact,” he added. "He’s pretty good and he’s inherited a good side by the looks of things.”