Defender Harry Clarke is hoping history can repeat itself and that Town can replicate the scintillating form of last season when an unbeaten 15-game run steered them to automatic promotion from League One.
The Blues won 13 and drew two of their final fixtures following a goalless draw at Bristol Rovers exactly a year ago, a major turning point after a run of only one win in eight league games, near-identical to their current form, which has seen them win just one of their last nine in the Championship.
Clarke, who will turn 23 early next month, said: "Anything’s possible and we all believe we have a good enough squad to put another good run together.
"It’s not like we’ve been playing badly and it’s the main thing I want to say. We’ve been playing well and I thought we were the better team in most of our recent games. Sometimes results don’t work out and we all know you don’t always get what you deserve in football.
"It’s just the way it goes in football. I think that what we did at the end of last season was something very special, but there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.
"The run of one win in eight last season was almost exactly the same as what we’re doing now. It’s just football; you’re not going to win every game and you must make sure you stick together, do the basics right and fight for the wins that make such a difference.”
Reflecting on Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion, which leaves Town in fourth, Clarke added: "The feeling afterwards was that we had played well and I think we were the better team.
"We didn’t play particularly well at their place back in November when they beat us 2-0 and they were the better side, so to come from behind twice and play well against a good defensive team is a positive.”
The Blues have conceded the first goal in each of their last five outings, including the embarrassing FA Cup fourth round exit to non-league Maidstone United pf the sixth tier, but in their four league games they at least recovered to win [Sunderland] and draw with both Leicester and West Brom.
"It’s something we’ve spoken about a lot,” Clarke admitted. "Last season we found it quite easy to start well and get an early goal in games, but it has been different this season.
"It’s just football, really. You don’t always get the early goal and you have to find a different way of winning games and picking up points. But coming from behind and not losing shows the character in the squad and we’re doing well.”
Clarke agreed that the squad assembled by manager Kieran McKenna does not lack spirit, adding: "It definitely is our main strength. It’s a great group of players we have here and we never give up. We keep on going right to the end and it has paid off a number of times, like at the weekend.”
Asked for his assessment of the season so far, Clarke added: "We’re still doing okay and we’re right in the thick of the promotion race. In terms of results, we may not be on the best of runs right now, but there are 46 games in the season and we haven’t lost many – only four – and there are no teams in the Championship who have lost fewer.
"It’s not wrong that we have only won once in our last nine games but at the same time we’ve only lost twice in that run, so it’s nowhere near as bad as it might sound.
"You know that in a long season you’re not going to win all the time and that there will be adversity of some sort along the way. The key is always how you react when things aren’t going according to plan but we have an opportunity now to put a decent run together.”
Including tonight’s visit to Millwall, the Blues face a run of nine games against teams who were in the bottom half of the table after the weekend results, and Town will be favourites to win these fixtures.
However, Clarke warned: "It may look like that on paper but the Championship is a very tough league and there’s nothing we can take for granted.
"Every single game is tough and throws up its own problems, difficulties and challenges, but of course we would like to put a run of wins together and try to strengthen our position in the table.
"But we’ll have the same approach to all our remaining games and it’s essential we have the same attitude we’ve had up until now.”
Former academy player Clarke is within two games of making his 50th appearance in all competitions for the club since returning to Portman Road in January last year, having initially left in 2015 to join Arsenal, where he signed a professional deal three years later and went on to join Oldham, Ross County, Hibernian and Stoke on loan, clocking up 80 first team appearances.
Asked how much he had improved as a player in his 13 months as a member of McKenna’s senior squad, the former East Bergholt High School pupil said: "Loads, I would say. Under the boss and the staff we have here, I’ve definitely improved as a player in that time.
"But there’s still room for so much more improvement and I’m excited for the future and for what I can do to improve my game.
"Perty [Martyn Pert, assistant manager] works well with the defenders most of the time but I’ve worked closely with the boss as well over the last year or so. They’ve both been amazing and I can’t wait to see where we can go from here.”