Boss Mick McCarthy warns that the Blues game at Charlton was “one of the hardest of the season” ahead of the Addicks’ visit to Portman Road this evening. Noel Hunt’s 95th minute debut goal saw Town to a dramatic 1-0 victory when the sides met at the Valley a month ago.
"One of the hardest games of the season that was,” McCarthy recalled. "You probably saw the outpouring more of relief than joy when we nicked it right at the very end.
"But they made us work hard and no doubt it’ll be just the same here. They’ve drawn a lot of games, Charlton.
"If they’d have had two or three more wins when they’ve drawn they would be in a much better position. And I don’t know why they haven't. But they don’t lose that many, they’re an organised, good Championship side, I think.”
The Addicks, who are 11th, 13 points behind the second-placed Blues, are on a tricky run having failed to win any of their last six games, scoring only four goals in those matches, and have only won once in their last 10. They have drawn 13 of their 23 fixtures this season.
"I know when we were speaking at the end of our game that their manager was complaining about the lack of a finisher,” McCarthy added.
"And in our game certainly that probably did cost them because it was a fairly open game with a good few chances either end.”
With matches coming with great regularity this time of the year, McCarthy says training sessions have been light.
"The team which played on Boxing Day have done little or nothing, that was their recovery. They had a small-sided game today,” he continued.
"And the others we try and keep topped up with their football and give them a bit of extra running so if they’re needed - and they will be needed at some stage - they’re all ready to go.”
He added: "We take a very common sense approach but we have that scientific element to it if we want it, with heart-rate monitors and what have you.
"But it really is common sense. They played on Boxing Day, they’ve had 23 games already so you don’t need to be doing too much work, it’s keeping them going.
"The lads who are playing, they just need to play and almost just tick over and rest. It’s the ones behind them, it’s keeping them ready, motivated and focused in case they get the chance so that they come in and play well.
"And so far this season that’s been the case, as with substitutes when they’ve come on, they’ve all contributed.”
He was delighted with the 4-2 win at Brentford on Boxing Day: "It was very pleasing. I thought it was a really solid Championship performance.
"We were tough and resolute and hard to beat and all those things when we had to be and we played some good stuff when we could.
"And we were clinical when on other occasions we’ve played well and haven’t been.
"The goals, Murph’s first after 18 seconds, that puts any team on the back foot and they were desperate to get back into the game quickly.
"And us being the away team suited us. We defended well, we didn’t go chasing it high up the pitch and we caught them on the break a couple of times.
"Really the game was put to bed in the second half despite their rally and the goals they got. It was a really good performance.”
The 55-year-old says he didn’t really make any firm pre-season predictions but admits that Town’s current position has exceeded his expectations.
"I don’t sit and envisage how it’s going to go,” he said. "I really do think ‘Right, we’ve got Fulham, let’s beat them, let’s play them and see what happens’.
"That’s kind of how I live my life, I don’t look at things and predict things. You can only deal with what’s in front of you.
"OK, so you plan for different things, there might be something going in on your life, but every day you’ve got something to look after and our first game was Fulham.
"If you’d have asked if I thought we’d be second at this time at Christmas, probably not. But I would have hoped we would have been.”
He says the key to continuing the Blues’ form - they're unbeaten in 10 and have lost just once in their last 19 matches - is maintaining the good habits which have served them well up to now.
"I’m always pleased when we progress nicely going forward but then I’m always worried that it’s going to come to an end,” the Town boss continued. "It’s making sure that you keep doing the things that’s caused that success.
"You can’t guarantee it and I said to the lads that you could have a wonder goal against you, you could have an unbelievably bad decision, anything can happen in a game that causes you problems.
"All you can do is look after your own performances and if we continue performing like we have been doing we’ll be OK.”
Daryl Murphy, the Championship’s top scoring striker on 16, has said he expects to score every match at the moment, but his manager says that for him goals come second.
"I don’t expect a goal, I expect a performance out of Murph, a certain standard of performance from him.
"And if he gets his goals that’s a bonus for me. I know what he’s saying about expecting to score, that he probably thinks he’s always going to get a chance and he’s in that groove that if he gets his chance he’s going to take it at the moment.
"It’s funny, when you’re playing well and it’s going well for you, you can’t tell anybody why. It’s just because you’re a good player, it’s happening, because you’ve worked hard, because you’ve put your shift in, because you’ve done all your hours training and it comes.
"It’s just a lovely period in your career when everything seems to be going well for you. It’s when it’s going badly and everybody can tell you what’s going wrong and you’re worried about it. And suddenly you start thinking about it more.
"I guarantee you that the lads aren’t thinking that much about it, they’re just relishing the next game at the moment.”
Aside from his penalty against Leeds, Murphy’s six-goal strike partner David McGoldrick hasn’t scored since November 1st but McCarthy is happy with the Irish international’s performances.
"I think he went 11 games without a goal last year and there was never a suggestion that he wasn’t going to play and there isn’t now,” he said.
"He’s terrific. He’s playing really, really well but I think for his own peace of mind he’ll need a goal.
"You can see that with strikers, they start to get a little bit frustrated, maybe take a shot early or take one when there might be a better opportunity for somebody else. But I’m not worried about Didz, he’s fantastic, he’s playing as well as ever.”
While McGoldrick may not have netted too many recently, Town's midfielders are finally starting to get on the scoresheet with Jay Tabb and Paul Anderson on target in the last two matches.
"Goals had been lacking from midfield, to be honest,” McCarthy admitted. "Tabby scored the week before and Ando did this week.
"They’re starting to put into games what they practice all the time in training, getting in at the far post.
"It was great to see Tabby score against Boro and Ando at Brentford when Tabby was the supplier, of course. Great, very good.”
The Town boss is delighted that the club have sold more than 1,000 half-season tickets and that a crowd of more than 24,000 - the second highest of the season - is expected this evening.
"It’s brilliant, I think that it’s lovely for the players to play in front of bigger crowds,” he added. "There’s a buzz around the place, an excitement.
"It’s keeping that going and all we can do is keep performing, the players and me and TC, keeping playing the way the team is playing and keeping getting the results.
"It’s nice that a bit of faith and a bit of trust seems to have come back because it takes a long time to gain that. It doesn’t take a long time to get shot of it, believe me.
"I can’t guarantee results but what I can guarantee every Saturday is a performance from the players, wholehearted, 100% and I don’t know too many people who don’t like that sort of performance.”
McCarthy probably won’t stray too far from the team which has won the last two games so impressively.
Bartosz Bialkowski, fresh from finishing second in the Beard Liberation Front’s Beard of the Year poll, will continue in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back.
Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra will again be at the centre of the defence with McCarthy having a dilemma at left-back.
Tyrone Mings, back after his infected toe, will probably get the nod ahead of Jonny Parr, despite the Norwegian impressing in the youngster’s absence.
In midfield, Luke Hyam, available again after his achilles problem, is unlikely to dislodge Cole Skuse or Teddy Bishop from the central midfield berths, while Tabb and Anderson are likely to continue in the wide roles with McGoldrick and Murphy up front.
Addicks midfielder Callum Harriott is banned for three games having been red-carded in the 1-1 draw with Cardiff on Boxing Day, while left-back Rhoys Wiggins (foot), midfielder Franck Moussa (knee) and one-time Town loan keeper Stephen Henderson (shoulder) are all sidelined. Striker Simon Church is available again after his shoulder injury.
Town just have the edge historically having won 21 games (17 in the league), Charlton 18 (15) and with 10 (nine) ending in draws. The Blues have won three of the last four games between the teams, although the Addicks are unbeaten in the last three at Portman Road.
The teams last met a month ago at the Valley when debutant sub Noel Hunt - who is set to return to parent club Leeds after tonight's match - netted an injury time winner as Town won 1-0 to end the Addicks’ unbeaten home run.
Hunt, who had come off the bench in the 84th minute, shot home from the edge of the box after a David McGoldrick cross had been half-cleared.
The last meeting at Portman Road was on New Year’s Day when Charlton skipper Johnnie Jackson came off the bench to net a 90th minute equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw.
The Blues had gone in front via Richard Wood’s 24th minute own goal with David McGoldrick coming off the bench in the second half and having a penalty saved by Charlton keeper Ben Alnwick.
Town midfielder Darren Ambrose was a Charlton player between July 2005 and June 2009, making 89 starts and 39 sub appearances, scoring 17 goals.
Winger Cameron Stewart was at the Valley between September and January last season, making 15 starts and three sub appearances, scoring three goals.
Blues striker Frank Nouble, who is currently on loan with Coventry, spent two months on loan at Charlton when a West Ham player between March and May 2011, scoring one goal in four starts and five sub appearances.
Injured Charlton keeper Henderson spent two spells on loan with the Blues from West Ham in 2012/13, making 24 appearances.
One of the Addicks' other keepers, Nick Pope, was a schoolboy with the Blues academy before being released at 15 and moving on to Bury Town and then Charlton in 2011. Defender Morgan Fox was also at Playford Road before being released at 11.
Midfielder or right-back Lawrie Wilson had a trial at Portman Road in 2006 during his previous spell at the Valley. He moved back to Charlton in the summer of 2012 after impressing at Stevenage.
Town are advising fans to arrive early given the large crowd, while the pitch is being protected from the cold weather by the dome.
Tonight’s referee is Christopher Kavanagh from Lancashire, who has shown 44 yellow cards and two red in 15 games so far this season.
Kavanagh will be refereeing only his second Championship game and has not taken charge of either the Blues or the Addicks previously.
Suad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Mings, Parr, Smith, Berra, Clarke, Skuse, Bishop, Hyam, Bru, Ambrose, Tabb, Anderson, S Hunt, Stewart, Henshall, Murphy, McGoldrick, N Hunt, Sammon, Bajner.