Winger Wes Burns has hailed Wednesday’s 4-0 away thrashing of Millwall as massive as Town ended in style a run of nine games that had seen them claim three points on only one occasion.
The victory leaves the fourth-placed Blues just one point worse off than Southampton in third and to within three of second-placed Leeds, who have played one game more than Kieran McKenna’s men.
Asked about the importance of beating the out-of-form Lions, 29-year-old Welsh international Burns said: "It was massive for us, really. There has been a lot of outside noise about our dip in form or whatever, but I think our standards were set so high at the start of the season that when we did have a couple of back-to-back draws, or a defeat, everyone would start to question whether we were going to be in it for the long haul.
"But I think going to Millwall – a tough place to go, their style of play, a Wednesday night – and putting on a very good performance, scoring four goals and keeping a clean sheet, it’s a statement from us.”
Asked if any recent criticism that had come their way had been hard to take, Burns added: "No, definitely not. I think we faced it more last year, really, because there was so much more pressure on us. Everyone wanted us to get promoted and that was the ultimate goal.
"Coming into this season, you know, we didn’t set any targets at the start. We just wanted to stick to our principles and improve every time we went out on the pitch and every time we played. Sticking to our principles meant continuing to work hard and just seeing where it took us come the end of the season. They’re the type of principles that have got us to where we are now.
"That’s been the case throughout the season and we had a kind of reset meeting after the January transfer window closed when the message was the same. We didn’t talk about play-offs or promotion; it was the same message about trying to improve every day and in every performance.
"We’ve got such a great set of lads in the dressing room with everyone fighting for each other and everyone pulling in the right direction, and that is ultimately why you succeed.”
Regardless of the recent blip, which only included two defeats in nine, Town have taken the Championship by storm and Wednesday’s success had confirmed what we really knew all along – that their form in the first half of the campaign was no flash in the pan.
Asked if the players really believed they could be in the top four at such an advanced stage of the season, Burns continued: "I think we were always under the radar confident. We knew we had a good, strong squad, a great manager and a great style of playing, and we also knew that on our day we could be a big problem for any team in the Championship.
"Did we think we would be where we are with 15 games left to play? I’m not sure, but we always set out to take every game as it came and to give 100 per cent in every game. We just wanted to see how far we could go with it.”
Can Town really go all the way and return to the Premier League, he was asked, and he responded: "Without really saying it, our goal is to take each game as it comes and to give 100 per cent in every one of them.
"Like I’ve said, if we give 100 per cent and keep striving to improve, we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”