Town boss Mick McCarthy sees no reason why his players shouldn’t react to Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Derby just as they did to their only previous home loss this season, to local rivals Norwich City back in August.
Following the 1-0 reverse against the Canaries, the Blues quickly got back into form, going eight games without a defeat and then losing only one of the next 21 matches prior to the Rams’ visit to Portman Road.
"I don’t see why there shouldn’t be [the same reaction],” McCarthy said. "The lads are great, I’m very, very proud of them, the way they go about their business and where we are in the league. We just crack on, we get going again, no problems.”
McCarthy, whose team are now third, a point behind both leaders Bournemouth and second-placed Derby, says there’s no point in agonising over bad results.
"The players are disheartened because they’ve lost and I think perhaps sometimes after games when I’m being positive about how we’ve been and what we’ve done, they look at me and wonder whether I’m upset by the result,” he added.
"Well, yes I am, but I can’t do anything about that. Me worrying about the Derby result isn’t going to change anything, all it’s going to do is make me a growly, brooding presence on Monday morning and that’s never the case with me because it’s gone. I’ll prepare for Southampton now.”
Tickets for Wednesday’s FA Cup third round replay against the Saints, who yesterday won 1-0 at Manchester United, have continued to sell well, illustrating the feelgood factor around the club at present, despite Saturday’s minor setback.
McCarthy says that’s a stark contrast to the Town he joined in November 2012: "It’s lovely for the place. If you think of two years ago I thought there was just such an element of distrust about the players.
"There was a fair bit of excitement, I’d turned up, but it was a bit like ‘well, we’ll see what he does’.
"We beat Birmingham, lost 5-0 at Palace, beat somebody else, lost 6-0 at Leicester. There was never getting any momentum going, there was always that element of distrust about the club and where it was heading.
"And not a good feel towards it and that’s changed. And that’s down to player performances, that’s down to getting results. There’s a much nicer atmosphere around the town than there was.”