Second-placed Town visit Bristol City on Wednesday evening aiming to maintain their impressive start to the season on the road.
The Blues have won four and drawn one on their travels in the Championship, extending their unbeaten away league run to a new club record of 14 matches stretching back to the in-the-fog defeat at Oxford in January.
Overall, Town go into the match having made a remarkable start to the season having taken 28 points from their first 11 league matches, their best performance at this stage in the second tier in their history.
Their previous best was the 1960/61 Second Division title-winning season under Sir Alf Ramsey, which would have yielded 24 points after 11 matches had a win been worth three points at that time.
On a similar basis, only 16 teams in the history of the second tier from 1882/83 to the present campaign, would have recorded more than Town’s 28 points after 11 fixtures, including this season’s leaders Leicester.
Town - and more than 3,000 fans - visit Ashton Gate having last played on October 7th when they beat Preston North End 4-2 at Portman Road, Friday’s live-on-Sky match at Rotherham having succumbed to Storm Babet and the River Don bursting its banks three hours before kick-off.
"We’ve had a few days since then,” manager Kieran McKenna told TownTV. "Of course, it was frustrating for the fans who travelled up there. For us as well, travelling up there on Thursday and not finding out until a bit later on Friday.
"But it is what it is. We can’t change it, so we’ve made the best out of it. We had a good session on Saturday morning at the training ground and we’ve had a couple of good days’ training now, so we’re ready for the game.”
McKenna says he and his staff used the opportunity to train over the weekend wisely.
"You don’t get that adrenaline from the game and the fatigue that then brings as well, so we were able to get some good work into the squad on Saturday morning, that was the benefit,” he added.
"I always try and take the positive from every situation and we got back a little bit earlier Friday and were able to have a really good work day for the whole squad on Saturday morning and hopefully that will help us over the next few weeks.”
Bristol City, who are 12th in the table following Tuesday's fixtures having finished 14th in 2022/23, are in a mixed run of form having won two of their last three, including Saturday’s 1-0 home victory over Coventry, and three of their last six since their most recent draw.
The Robins’ home form illustrates their up and down form having won two, drawn two and lost two of their matches at Ashton Gate.
Despite having been as high as eighth prior to Tuesday's games, until then only six Championship teams have scored fewer than Bristol City’s 15 goals this season.
"A really tough game on a Wednesday night,” McKenna reflected. "They play with a lot of energy, a really hard-running team, a really honest group.
"Obviously good players, they have been in the Championship for a good amount of time and have always been competitive and they’ve been competitive in all the games again this season.
"We’re looking forward to the game. I think it’ll be, hopefully, quite an open game, both teams with forward intent and it should make for a good match.
"We’ve respected the opponent as we do with everybody and now it’ll just be about trying to deliver a performance.
"We feel like we’ve been waiting a while for a game now, so everyone’s itching to get to Wednesday night and get the game started.”
Regarding the Robins’ inconsistent form, McKenna said: "I think ups and downs in this division are normal because every game’s so tight. They look like they’ve got a really good group, they have threats from different areas, they’ve got good athleticism in the squad, they’ve got a good age profile in the squad now as well and they’ve been competitive in pretty much every game this season.
"The margins between teams are so little and we’ll have to be at our very, very best to compete there on a Wednesday night.
"We are fully prepared for what we’re going into and we know it’s going to be a big game, but it’s one to look forward to.
"It’s going to be great to get out in front of the supporters, Preston feels a long time away now and we can’t wait to get going again.”
McKenna seems likely to stick as much as he can to the team which beat the Lilywhites prior to the international break.
Vaclav Hladky will be in goal with Brandon Williams and Leif Davis the full-backs and Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess the centre-halves.
Massimo Luongo has had longer to recover from his 68 minutes with Australia last Tuesday, so seems certain to line-up alongside skipper Sam Morsy at the centre of the midfield.
McKenna will be forced into one change with Wes Burns out due to the shoulder injury he suffered while with Wales and Omari Hutchinson would appear his most likely replacement wide on the right.
Conor Chaplin looks certain to continue in the centre with Nathan Broadhead on the left and George Hirst the central striker.
Bristol City have a number of injury issues at present with defender Kal Naismith having missed Saturday’s 1-0 home victory over Coventry with a calf problem.
Republic of Ireland international midfielder Jason Knight, who was interesting the Blues over the summer as an alternative to Jack Taylor, was ill going into the match and was only considered well enough to come off the bench, which he did in the 38th minute.
Striker Nahki Wells (ankle), defender Zak Vyner (knee), Joe Williams (calf) and George Tanner (ankle) all also missed that game and seem unlikely to be involved against the Blues.
Manager Nigel Pearson is also on crutches at present with a back problem which requires surgery, while the 60-year-old is also awaiting tests to diagnose a "neurological situation”.
Historically, Town have the edge, winning 29 (27 in the league), losing 23 (23) and drawing 14 (14).
However, the Blues have won just one of their last 10 against the Robins and were most recently victorious at Ashton Gate on the opening day of the 2011/12 season when Paul Jewell’s side romped to a 3-0 win with Michael Chopra netting two and Lee Martin the other.
The teams last met in Bristol in March 2019 when Lloyd Kelly’s 68th-minute own goal saw Town to a 1-1 draw, former Blues defender Adam Webster having headed the Robins in front in the 32nd minute.
Kelly inadvertently smashed Myles Kenlock’s low cross into his own net to hand Town what was a deserved equaliser.
In the previous November at Portman Road, Freddie Sears scored two goals but Bristol City came from behind twice to beat the Blues 3-2, extending bottom-of-the-table Town’s all-time record home winless run to 12 matches.
Sears put the Blues in front in the 32nd minute but a Bartosz Bialkowski own goal levelled the scores 10 minutes after the break.
Sears’s second of the evening restored the lead on 58 but a minute later Jamie Paterson equalised for a second time before sub Famara Diedhiou won it for the visitors, who ended a run of four successive defeats.
Blues winger Burns came through the youth system at Bristol City and went on to make six starts and 48 sub appearances, scoring five times.
A number of Town’s off-field staff moved to Portman Road following the Gamechanger 20 Ltd takeover including CEO Mark Ashton, COO Luke Werhun and director of performance Andy Rolls.
Bristol City manager Pearson was interviewed for the job as Town boss in 2006 but lost out to Jim Magilton.
City striker Wells spent time on trial at Portman Road as a teenager. He did enough to be asked to stay on for a longer spell, but the homesick youngster opted to go back to Bermuda and the Dandy Town Hornets before later making his return to English football with Carlisle, Bradford, Huddersfield, Burnley, QPR and, from January 2020, the Robins.
Wednesday’s referee is Tom Nield from West Yorkshire, who has shown 35 yellow cards and one red in eight games so far this season.
Nield’s last Town match was the 0-0 FA Cup fourth-round draw with Burnley at Portman Road in January in which he cautioned Morsy and Marcus Harness as well as two Clarets.
He was also in the middle for the 2-0 home defeat by Portsmouth in the Papa Johns Trophy at Portman Road in November last year in which he again yellow-carded the Blues captain and two visitors.
Before that, he was in charge of the 2-0 defeat at Sunderland in November 2021 in which he awarded the Black Cats a late penalty for handball after a Ross Stewart shot struck Toto Nsiala, who was standing just in front of him, which Aiden McGeady converted. In addition, he booked Bersant Celina and four home players.
He refereed the 0-0 home draw with the MK Dons in March in which he booked only Flynn Downes and Armando Dobra.
Prior to that Nield, who is a senior nurse/matron with the Acute & Emergency Service at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, officiated in the Blues’ 1-0 win at Hull City in February 2021 in which he yellow-carded Nsiala, Kenlock, Keanan Bennetts and two Tigers.
He also took control of the 0-0 draw with Oxford at the Kassam Stadium in 2019/20 when he took the players off for 15 minutes due to monsoon conditions and cautioned Gwion Edwards and one home player.
Nield’s only other Blues match was the 4-0 Leasing.com Trophy victory over Gillingham at Portman Road in October 2019 in which he yellow-carded Emyr Huws and two Gills.
Squad from: Hladky, Walton, Clarke, Williams, Donacien, Davis, Ball, Woolfenden, Burgess, Edmundson, Morsy, Luongo, Taylor, Humphreys, Jackson, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Aluko, Hutchinson, Hirst, Jackson, Scarlett.