Town boss Mick McCarthy says the 25,684 crowd and atmosphere at the 3-1 victory over now-promoted Newcastle United in the Blues' last home game was a reminder of how good Portman Road can be.
Home crowds have slumped to their lowest levels since the late 1990s at times this season - the attendance at the Wigan game was only 14,661 the smallest since 14,514 watched a 0-0 draw with Tranmere Rovers on November 12th 1999 - and McCarthy was delighted with the highest turnout of the season for the Magpies' visit with the club having run a ticket promotion ahead of the match.
"It was fantastic, it was a real surprise to see that and it was a great noise,” he said. "It was a fabulous atmosphere and a really good performance by us. We certainly responded to it.”
The Town manager felt it was reminiscent of the feel around the ground during the 2015/16 play-off season.
He added: "It can be like that any club when it’s good. Look at Lincoln when they beat us and they beat Brighton and Burnley [in the FA Cup] and everybody is talking about how wonderful it is at Lincoln with 7,000 fans in.
"I’ve been there and there’s been 800 or something. It’s not always like that because they were struggling. And that’s been the same with us.
"It was a reminder, if ever we needed a gentle reminder, of how good this place can be. And actually what a difficult place it can be to come and play at if we play like that.”
In their play-off campaign Town’s home form - won 15, drawn five, lost three - was only bettered by Middlesbrough on goal difference but over the last two seasons it’s not hit the same heights.
Last season the Blues’ form on their own turf - won nine, drawn eight, lost six - was the ninth best in the division and this year it’s 16th - won eight, drawn 10, lost four - with only Saturday's game against Sheffield Wednesday left to play.
Is it something he wants to address next season? "I’d like to get more points and better performances and more wins next year. But I think home performances are particularly vital for any club because that’s where all your fans come and watch.”
Town’s season ticket sales are set to dip below 10,000 for the first time since the spell in the Premier League at the start of the century and McCarthy admits that form at home is what tends to dictate the overall mood at a club.
"It is,” he said. "If they come and see us lose a couple [at home] and yet if the 2,000 fans who have travelled away have seen a great performance, it doesn’t really have an effect on the other how-many-thousand that have not seen it.
"They look at the paper and say ‘We’ve won, that’s great’, but actually they want to see us play well and win.”
Following Saturday’s match, McCarthy says he, his staff and his players will take part in the traditional lap of appreciation.
"We’ve just had that discussion and I said yes because we have to show our appreciation, whether it’s one or 10,000 who are still there watching,” he said.
"Show our appreciation for people turning up to watch us and support us. We’re not going to change, no way. We’ll be there.”
The Town boss made nine changes to the team for last week’s dead rubber away against bottom-of-the-table Rotherham and was disappointed that the game ended in a 1-0 defeat.
Did he learn anything from the match? "It confirmed to me what I already know, that when you change nine players, if it’s a League Cup tie or whatever you’re playing, you lose a bit of cohesion.
"But I was still expecting better from us. We shouldn’t have lost the game anyway. It was a good goal by them, a good strike, but it should never have got to that and we had our chances.
"Some things were just confirmed to me, rather than anything else. We’ve all thought Danny Rowe’s been training really well and I thought he was the bright spark out of all of them.
"I was pleased with Tommy Smith coming back. I thought that was his best performance since coming back from his back injury. That was pleasing, I have to be honest.”
McCarthy has confirmed he’ll revert to the team which won back-to-back games against Burton Albion and Newcastle for Saturday’s game against the play-off-chasing Owls.