Daryl Murphy sees today’s visit of in-form Burnley as a must-win game for Ipswich as they seek their first Portman Road league victory since March.
Town have failed to win any of their last 10 home outings — the club’s worst record since turning professional in 1936 — and this miserable sequence is largely responsible for them being rooted to the foot of the Championship table.
Their only two league wins to date have come on their travels, 1-0 at both Watford and Birmingham, and the on-loan Celtic player knows Town must soon start to deliver at home or the fight against relegation will become all the more difficult.
Murphy, 29, said: "I definitely see it as a must-win game, especially because it’s at home. We haven’t won at home this season and it’s about time we put that right to give our fans something to cheer about.
"We have to start picking up points and especially at home. We need to be winning most of our home games and that’s not happened so far.”
Like their hosts, Burnley are under new management, with ex-Watford boss Sean Dyche now in charge at Turf Moor, where he has been joined by former Hornets’ coach Tony Loughlan, who was Roy Keane’s right-hand man during his 20-month Portman Road reign.
Dyche celebrated home wins over Wolves and Leeds without conceding a goal and today’s game represents his first away challenge with a team walloped 4-0 at Cardiff in their last game on the road.
Murphy added: "Burnley are in good form but we need to look at ourselves. We’re not looking too much at the opposition at the moment. We’re working on things in training and trying to get things right. It’s a massive game for us.
"It is hard to believe we are in this position when you look around and see the players we have here. But it doesn’t mean anything come a Saturday if we are getting beaten all the time.
"Everyone has to pull their weight and produce something for the team. As I said, the fans need something to cheer about because it’s not been great for them over the last few months with the results, especially, so we need to change that against Burnley.”