Manager Mick McCarthy says hard work, an increase in confidence and a bit of luck have all contributed to the Blues’ upturn in form which has seen them take 16 points out of 24 since he took over as boss at the start of last month.
McCarthy said: "They’ve worked hard, run around, made tackles and competed, that’s been without question.
"I think we’ve had a bit of luck, we’ve had four penalties in the games, but then again you’ve got to get in the opponents’ box to get penalties - have people running at people, getting it up there and keeping it up there.
"But they put a real shift in. At Palace and at Leicester we got mullered, we didn’t really put a tackle in on anybody. They’ve been competitive, organised and when you get a couple of results, confidence comes back.
"If it had been me or Paul or anybody who had got a couple of results then I think the confidence comes back into them and they start to play better. And that culminated in probably the best performance on Saturday against Millwall.”
He says that even with that growth in self-belief, Saturday’s game might have gone differently: "We’ve all got a bit more confidence in ourselves. The players will have, fans will have travelling up [to Leeds], I’m sure.
"We played against Millwall last week and played really well. We started the game really well and had a couple of good chances, but then Hendo had to make a couple of good saves and they had one disallowed. It was offside, I’ve seen it and it looks offside to me.
"And it’s as fragile as that. If those go in it’s a totally different afternoon. We get a good goal, then we were in the ascendancy, but it can change just like that if they get the first goal. It’s going to be interesting all the way through.”
McCarthy says winning his first game in charge helped everyone to rebuild their confidence having dropped to the foot of the table: "It’s getting results. If you get the first result, as we did by hook or by crook at Birmingham that helps them believe in me, believe in Terry, I suppose.
"We got slapped in the next game but by doing that, the next game we win and that confidence starts to seep in. They’re not bad players in the first place, it’s just helping them to get that confidence back.”
Having worked his players every day of the previous week, he gave them more time to recover ahead of the trip to Leeds: "They got two days off this week because they’re going to have to run around more than they did last week on Saturday, so I thought I better rest them up.
"That’s not taking the foot off the gas, that’s giving them well-earned rest because they’ve worked every so hard.
"We get our Prozone stats and to be fair we’ve out-worked other teams. And if you’re going to do that for the rest of the season, you’ve got to put your legs up and rest at some stage.”
Even prior to the management change the Blues were showing well in terms of Prozone but he believes the players are approaching the game more intelligently now: "I think one or two have screwed their heads on when they’re running around now, which makes a difference.”
Eight games into his new job, he admits that even experienced bosses such as himself take time to adjust to new surroundings and can suffer from a few nerves: "We’re no different. When you go into a new job everybody has their own anxieties, it’s whether you transmit those into everybody else and into the job, whatever job it is.
"I’ve been talking to pals of mine recently who have been getting new jobs, they’re getting nervous about it. It’s no different.
"Then, as it goes on and you’re getting a few results or whatever it might be, it helps everybody, me included.”