Ipswich Town’s recent resurgence faces a big test this evening when second-placed Middlesbrough visit Portman Road for a live Sky game (Sky Sports One,from 7pm, KO 7.45pm).
The Blues are unbeaten in six games having got back to form after a spell in which they won just once in 10 league matches.
Manager Mick McCarthy says the mood around the squad is very upbeat having won three and drawn one of their last four matches.
"There’s generally a good feel in the squad but it’s better when you’re winning games,” he said. "It’s been a lot easier coming into work and training and around the place and around the town, everywhere.
"It’s just a better feeling when the team’s winning. We’ve won and we’ve played well. But I would just temper that with the fact that we beat Bolton here, we beat Rotherham away, we beat Charlton.
"I’m not suggesting they were easy because when we were in the bottom three and I arrived here we slapped a good few teams, so it’s not easy playing those.
"You’ve got to beat them, and we drew with Wolves and I think we should have won that. But we’re playing different opposition [this evening], we’re playing Middlesbrough, who are a very, very good side and they’ll be one of the teams for promotion, I think.”
He says he relishes the prospect of taking on one of the division’s pacesetters, who were defeated in last season's play-off final.
"Strangely it’s sometimes better and easier playing the games when you’re not just expected to turn up and win,” he added. "Although the support that we had here against Bolton when we’d just had a few draws was magnificent.
"They didn’t just sit back and say ‘Go on then, win the game’, they inspired us to win that game, that was fabulous.
"But nevertheless it’s still more nervy when you walk out on to the pitch as a player or as a manager when you’re expected to win.
"This is a different game. People will be turning up hoping we’ll win and hoping we play well, but it’ll be a tough game this, they’re a good side.”
The Teessiders were last in action as recently as Tuesday when they were beaten 2-0 at home by Everton in a Capital One Cup quarter-final.
Although manager Aitor Karanka made six changes - including resting Blues nemesis David Nugent - McCarthy says that could work in Town’s favour.
"Only time will tell after the game whether we can sit here and say it was a great time to play them,” he said.
"But the reality is that it is a good time to play them. We’ve been playing well, we’ve been on a good run of form, they’ve had a game on Tuesday night, they’ve got to travel down to us. But whether that will have any bearing on it or give us an advantage only time will tell.
"But in terms of how we’re playing and the confidence that we’re showing at the moment, I’m happy to play anybody.”
He says Tuesday’s game was a tough one for the Teessiders: "I watched them the other night against Everton, although that wasn’t a true reflection. I thought from Everton it was a really good, professional Premier League performance, they kept the ball.
"They made six changes. People asked me about my team playing in the Capital One Cup [at Manchester United] when we had Bristol City coming here.
"That was a quarter-final and they made six changes because they’re coming here on Friday night, so maybe it shows the importance of the league games.”
Having been criticised for the much-changed team he fielded at Old Trafford, McCarthy noted that his Boro counterpart had similar priorities on Tuesday, despite being two rounds nearer to a Wembley final.
"I was asked a question at the Supporters Club AGM, ‘Did I regret changing the team for Manchester United?’ and I said no, but I regret not beating Bristol City.
"It just shows you, that was a quarter-final. Playing Tuesday and Friday is a tough ask for them, travelling down.
"He has got a good squad of players so he’s making the most of it with one eye on the league game. Premier League football will give you £120 million apparently and a cup semi-final won’t.”
McCarthy seems likely to stick with the team that beat Charlton so comprehensively last week.
Dean Gerken will continue in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Jonas Knudsen on the left and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra in the centre.
In the middle of midfield, Cole Skuse will again be partnered by Jonathan Douglas. Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Freddie Sears will be on the right and left respectively if the Town boss opts for a 4-4-2 formation with the ex-Colchester man joining Daryl Murphy and Brett Pitman up front if he starts with a 4-3-3 system.
"It’s a tough place to go,” Boro boss Karanka said of Portman Road at his pre-match press conference. "We lost last season and they’ve had all week to prepare.
"But we have a good squad, we made six changes on Tuesday and we’ll check who the best players are to play tomorrow.
"It’s an interesting team as they’ve scored a lot of goals and have good players up front especially.
"The pitch isn’t big to play on but we have to learn from what happened last season. We have a lot of players who played there last season, but when we played them at home we beat them 4-1.”
Karanka confirmed that he was amongst the Championship managers interested in Daryl Murphy in the summer with Boro understood to have offered £4.5 million for the Irishman.
"We were thinking about him in the summer because he is a really good player," the Spaniard said.
"Our target was to get promotion, and to try to sign the best possible players for the right amount of money to help us do that. Daryl was on that list because he scored 27 goals last season.
"He is a player I like a lot because he works a lot, his movement is excellent and he has a powerful shot from outside the box. He can be really, really dangerous.”
Regarding Town, he added: "It’s a team that plays long balls up the pitch, they’re strong with strong forwards Murphy and Pitman, and have strong defenders.
"I expect a physical game but if we want to try to compete physically with them, we’ll lose, as they’re stronger than us. So we have to play in our style and stop them from playing in their style.”
Boro have defender Tomas Kalas back from a knee injury, while former Town skipper Grant Leadbitter is available having missed last week’s 2-0 win at Huddersfield due to a one-match ban after amassing five bookings.
Rhys Williams (achilles), Alex Baptiste (broken leg) and Damia Abella (knee) are long-term absentees.
Leadbitter joined the Teessiders on a Bosman transfer in the summer of 2012 after leaving Portman Road.
Middlesbrough striker David Nugent has scored 14 goals in 13 games against the Blues during his career and has netted every time he has played at Portman Road - nine in seven matches - for Preston, Portsmouth, Leicester and England’s U21s in a game against Moldova in 2006.
The Blues have had the better of Middlesbrough over the years, winning 30 games (28 in the league), drawing 14 (14) and losing 19 (18).
The Teessiders last won at Portman Road in the Premier League in March 1993 when Paul Wilkinson’s header 10 minutes before the break gave the visitors a 1-0 victory.
The teams most recently met at the Riverside in March when Boro won 4-1 to leave Town’s hopes of winning automatic promotion hanging by a thread.
The Teessiders went in front through Daniel Ayala in the fourth minute in an incident which saw Blues keeper Dean Gerken stretchered off.
Daryl Murphy equalised with his 23rd goal of the season on 11 but Albert Adomah restored the home side’s lead on the half hour, before on-loan Chelsea frontman Patrick Bamford sealed the victory after the break with goals on 64 and 79.
Five days before last Christmas at Portman Road, first-half goals from Daryl Murphy and Jay Tabb saw the Blues to an impressive 2-0 victory over Boro to return to second in the Championship.
Murphy netted a rebound from close range in the 25th minute and Tabb beat two defenders to head home the second deep into first-half injury time.
Prior to kick-off local charity Talitha Koum will be holding a collection around the ground.
Tonight’s referee is Tim Robinson from West Sussex, who has shown 70 yellow cards and one red in 18 games so far this season. This evening's match will be only his 12th at Championship level.
"Robinson’s only previous Town game was the pre-season friendly at Crawley in the summer of 2013 in which he awarded the Blues a penalty, which was converted by David McGoldrick in a 2-1 victory.
Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Parr, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Robinson, Skuse, Douglas, Coke, Tabb, McDonnell, Maitland-Niles, Oar, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, McGoldrick.