Interim boss John McGreal says the Blues have to continue the progress made at Wigan at the weekend when they take on League Two Barrow in their second round FA Cup replay on Wednesday evening at Holker Street.
McGreal has said his role is to give the squad a lift in his time in charge, leaving them in a better position for the permanent boss once he is appointed.
Asked how he felt that was going, having been given his temporary role last Monday following Paul Cook’s sacking, he said that the 1-1 draw at Wigan was a step in the right direction and a performance on which to build.
"I’d been in the door a couple of days [as an U23s coach], the manager then left, I then took the interim role, we had a really tough game at Charlton and the boys you could see were low on confidence after that game,” he said.
"All us guys that have come in, myself, Reg [Rene Gilmartin] and Kieron, have done is to lift the players, put on good training sessions, to try and win games of football but also to try and bring a bit of noise and get the players back to what they do best.
"Skip, Sam [Morsy]’s a testament to that, especially Saturday he was outstanding. Some of the performances on Saturday were very, very good to nullify Wigan, who this season have been in good form, to a couple of shots.
"I think we ticked all the boxes on the stats within the game, final third entries, penalty box entries and shots at goal and stuff, so you can see and you can sense a little bit of a change happening in training, filling them with confidence and hopefully now they can kick-on and maintain how we finished the game on Saturday going into this cup game.
"When players are fearful, they don’t play to their best, so we’re just trying to take the shackles off them so they try and enjoy a game of football. There’s nothing better than playing football and at a big club so they’ve got to embrace it.”
Inconsistency has been one of Town’s big failings this season and McGreal was asked whether that might be down to the squad having been assembled virtually from scratch in the summer.
"Possibly, yes,” he reflected. "I’ve been in the building for seven to 10 days. Going on past history as a player myself, it’s confidence. It just comes down to confidence at times and getting to grips with certain elements of your own individual game.
"That’s the thing really, sort your own individual game out. Working hard on the training pitch and then bringing it all together in the games. That’s how then you get your levels of consistency.
"I said before, there have been a few false dawns throughout the season. Big away wins. When the guys come back to a home match they need to put on some decent home performances.
"We’re just trying to get that consistency into the guys because there are some really top, top players here from the Championship and good players in League One that want to progress and move forward and at this moment in time, that’s our job to try and play without a little bit of fear.
"Try and stop the opposition in a way, nullify what they do but then also be on top of our game when we do get the ball.
"That’s been a big part, taking the ball in tight areas, and I thought we started to do that in the second half on Saturday, especially late in the second half.”
He says it’s very important for the team to play with confidence at Barrow on Wednesday.
"Hugely because you’ve got to take the ball and it will be a tight pitch,” he said. "You don’t know the condition of the pitch, it didn’t look overly the best after the game they played on Saturday, but again, there are no excuses whatsoever.
"We’ve got to do what we do well and we’ve got to improve again from Saturday. Saturday was a good step in the right direction, but again we need more and there’s no better way to do it now than on a TV game in a replay to get through to the third round.”
McGreal had praise for the Blues support at Wigan on Saturday, who he said played a big part in securing the point against the Latics.
"Huge. I had good friends in the away end on Saturday,” he said. "It’s a bit different to Colchester, don’t get me wrong, but the fans were brilliant.
"I keep going on record about our fans, they’re brilliant, they’re second to none and especially at the level we’re at at the minute, they do come in their thousands.
"It’s a credit to them. I keep saying, it’s a couple of weeks before Christmas and they’re turning up in their hundreds, nearly 1,500 I think were there at the weekend.
"It’s testament to each and every one of them, the way they support the club and all we’ve got to try and do is put on performances to make them happy because it is a long, long journey to travel back.
"That second half, it went hand in hand with the fans, they showed their support, our guys picked up a lot, finished the game strongly and we want to continue that in the FA Cup.”