Manager Paul Lambert believes home form has to be Town’s “bread and butter” if they are to climb away from the relegation zone.
The Blues are yet to win at Portman Road this season with their last victory on home turf the 1-0 success over Barnsley in Mick McCarthy’s last game in charge in April. January’s 1-0 victory over Leeds is the only other win home supporters have witnessed during 2018, while Town’s current winless home run of 12 matches is now the longest in the club’s history.
"If you’re going to do anything in a league, your home form has to be your bread and butter,” Lambert said looking ahead to Saturday’s game against Wigan.
"If you pick up points away, that’s great, but you have to get your home form sorted and it gives you a chance of trying to do something.
"I can’t speak for what happened before because I don’t really know, but the level the fans are supporting us right now, this is not normal this sort of situation because the support the team has got has been incredible, the way they get behind us, even last week they were brilliant.
"But I think they recognise the football we’re playing and everybody is desperate to win for them as well to give them something. If we all stay together this will turn and once it does turn this will be a brilliant place.”
He says the mood at Playford Road, where he once again welcomed legends Terry Butcher and John Wark earlier today with their skipper Mick Mills also joining them, remains positive.
"You just come in and you sense the club, you sense the feeling of it,” he added. "I said before, when I first game in there was a lot of apathy there in the football club, here and at the stadium, everything I thought was too downbeat.
"First of all you have to get people playing with freedom and getting them enjoying football, there’s no point wanting to be a footballer if you don’t enjoy it, there’s no point in that. I don’t see the reason of wanting to be a footballer if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing.
"I said at the time, have fun with what you’re doing, play with freedom and let’s see where it takes us.
"And that’s the way they’ve been playing, to be fair, they’ve been playing with that freedom and having fun with it, we’ve just been unfortunate in a lot of games that we’ve [been beaten when we’ve] been the better team, without a doubt we’ve been the better side.
"But if they keep on doing what they’re doing, it will turn and they’ll be a better team for it.”
He continued: "The training ground’s had a fantastic atmosphere and that’s something we try and keep.
"Even when we’ve lost games I’ve come in every day and we get them going again, there’s never been one downbeat day here even though we’ve lost some games because they know they’re playing well and that dilutes a lot of stuff because they’re playing that type of football that I like, they enjoy it.
"We have fun in the training ground but when we work, we work really hard and that's the pleasing aspect.”
Meanwhile, he says players’ performances in the U23s don’t have an impact on his thoughts when it comes to the first team.
"U23s football will never really change my mind on a player,” he said. "It will never change [what I think in terms of] the first team. I’ve never really judged many people on it because I don’t think it’s massively, massively competitive.
"I’ll judge from my own eye in training because I know what the lads can do. U23s football is hard for experienced lads to play but I’ll never judge anybody by an U23s game.”