Town boss Kieran McKenna believes the performance in last weekend’s disappointing defeat to Southampton had more positives than negatives and says there has been an encouraging response through the week.
The Blues remain three points adrift of safety in the Premier League but their attention shifts this weekend to the fourth round of the FA Cup where they visit Championship side Coventry City.
Reflecting on last Saturday’s defeat to the Saints, McKenna said: "It’s a game where if you look at the game back and analyse it you’ll find a lot more positives than negatives.
"I thought it was by far our most dominant performance against Southampton over the four games that we’ve played against them in the last few years. We created much the better chances and limited the opposition to very little.
"I know we created more good chances in the first half but against man-to-man that can sometimes be the way, we were still very close to creating big chances in the second half but we just didn’t find the last little bit.
"But if you analyse the game in a logical and objective way, there were lots of good things about the performance. Of course, we missed some chances and made some mistakes that led to goals and we end up with a really painful loss.
"There’s no getting away from that, you can’t brush that off in an hour, a day or even sometimes a couple of days, but you can stick together through it, you can go through that painful loss as a group and you can come out with the right response in terms of how you go about your work in the days ahead and you can try and find the right response in the games ahead as well.
"That’s what we’ve been through this week – the group have been excellent, they’re still competing really well day-to-day, they’re still fighting in the same direction, they know the reality was it was a really hurtful loss, they know the reality was there was a lot of the performance that showed that we’ve improved in a lot of areas compared to another big football club, and they’re looking forward to the game this weekend.
"It’s nice to have a break for a different competition and not to have to focus on the league for a week. We’re going to rotate the minutes around the squad and it’s a chance to try and compete in a different competition, get a good performance and hopefully a good result.”
While the Portman Road mood at full-time was rather abject, McKenna has called for the supporters to continue to back the team going into the final 14 matches of the league campaign.
The Town manager also highlighted the shift in mentality and challenge from competing in the Championship to going head-to-head with some of the world’s elite clubs in the Premier League.
"The supporters have been great, they’ve been right there with us and we’re going to need them right there with us for the rest of the season,” he said.
"We know what this season is, we know what the challenge is and we know that the perception is so wildly different when you go from being one of the top teams in the Championship which nobody expected us to be apart from ourselves.
"I think we’re certainly a better team this year and have improved in many departments and even the game last weekend I think we’ve shown that. But when you’re competing at the bottom of the toughest division in world football, the perception is different and it’s harder to get the wins that verify and evidence the good work that’s going on.
"I know that it is and the supporters have been fantastic all season. Of course, last weekend was a really disappointing end to the game and everyone rightly felt that disappointment and hurt and went through it together, both inside the training ground and as a club.
"I know the connections that we’ve built at this club over the last few years, I know how strong they are and I really believe that everyone here is fighting in the right direction and going to keep competing right to the very last game.
"I fully believe that if we do that the supporters will be right there with us and will be strong and in it together.”