Midfielder Cole Skuse believes the Blues are capable of breaking into the top six during the busy spell of festive fixtures. Town, currently ninth, three points from the play-off zone, take on Doncaster away on Boxing Day, follow that with a trip to AFC Bournemouth, before Charlton visit Portman Road on New Year’s Day.
"We can crack the top six over this festive period — of course we can,” the Bristolian said. "Everyone is happy, we have a great squad and we have ourselves in a great position.”
Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Watford was Town’s fifth game without losing and Skuse felt it was probably the right result.
"We are proud of the unbeaten run, but on the scale of things a point was fair enough,” he said. "We may have shaded the second half but they are no mugs.”
He was in no doubt about referee Graham Scott’s decision to award a spotkick when Gabriele Angella was adjudged to have handled: "It was a penalty. The referee gave it straight away and all the lads thought it was a penalty too.
"It was a shame we could not hold on to keep the clean sheet. They got a bit of luck with a deflected cross but fair play to Troy Deeney, he was on the move and got in front to make a great finish.”
The 27-year-old said the windy conditions were difficult to contend with: "It was tough. As a professional you come across all sorts of weather but you have to deal with it. It was a swirling wind and neither side had an advantage with it.
"Even so we played decent stuff. We are hard to beat which is something the manager and TC have instilled in us. If we can’t win then we don’t want to lose either so we make ourselves hard to beat.”