Town defender Leif Davis believes the Blues are starting to find their feet after a slow start to the Championship season.

As the halfway mark of the season approaches, Town sit fourth in the table despite failing to win any of their opening four matches of the season prior to the end of the summer transfer window.

In football, a lot can change in a week. Only seven days ago, there were question marks over the Blues’ performance levels, but they have been alleviated after back-to-back victories at Portman Road against league leaders Coventry City and Stoke City.

Davis says the mood around the club and at Playford Road is positive, and that many of Town’s summer arrivals have settled and are nearing their best level.

“I’ve said plenty of times, it doesn’t just happen in the first few games,” he said. “You’ve got to realise how people play, how the new lads coming in and knowing how the gaffer wants to play as well.

“It does take time and I think now the sparks are starting to click. As you’ve seen in the past two games, you’ve seen the togetherness in the team and the morale in the team.

“At full-time, the backline are with each other, the midfield line is with each other and everyone is together enjoying the three points. That’s what it’s got to be like, if the morale in the team is not good then you don’t win games.

“The vibe at the training ground at the minute is really good, so hopefully we can kick on to Saturday.”

He continued: “The back-to-back promotions, we were with the same team for two years. The boys that signed, there were a lot of signings before I came, but they came together so knew how to play with each other from the start.

“It’s taking time, it’s working on the training field every day. The lads that don’t play on a Saturday or Wednesday are working hard on the training pitch to fight for that position, and that’s what it needs to keep pushing on everyone.

“Even people that aren’t playing a lot of minutes, they still push each other in training and work hard every day. They’re a team player, they know their job if they’re not playing games, they know their job at training, keeping everyone on their toes and keeping everyone pushing. That’s the mentality you have to have.”

Six points from the last two matches is a clear sign of progress, particularly the manner in which it was achieved against two of the division’s leading sides so far this term.

Defensively, the Blues have kept four clean sheets in their last six games, including in each of the last three matches on Suffolk soil, with team spirit notably in rich supply.

“Especially Saturday against top of the league gave us big confidence going into the week ahead,” Davis said.

“I thought Stoke were a good team, probably the toughest team we’ve faced all year. Good on the ball and good off the ball as well. Getting three points was big for us, everyone dug in deep and that’s what they had to do to get the three points over the line.”

Asked what the reaction was after the disappointment at Blackburn Rovers last Tuesday, Davis said: “That’s in the past now, we’ve got to focus on the road ahead. A lot of tough games, a lot of games coming thick and fast and we’ve got to take it game by game.

“We reviewed the game but we knew we weren’t good enough in that game. We came back in and spoke at the training ground, we knew what we had to do, especially against Coventry and Stoke and then the game on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of games coming. Everyone’s fit as well, everyone’s looking good and in a good place, especially this part of the season. The team is looking strong and anyone can fit in at any time as well when they need to play.

“Against Oxford, we actually played well in the game. It was two moments, obviously a mistake by Azor [Matusiwa] and things like that can happen in a game. We know his quality and we know that it doesn’t happen often. It’s just moments in the game where things like that happen.

“The second goal was a moment as well with a mistake, maybe the pass of the ball should have probably been kept local, but mistakes happen in games. When we reviewed the game, we actually did play well in the game and created a lot of chances.

“Blackburn, we knew that it wasn’t good enough at all and the performance was nowhere near our best. In the three years I’ve been here, one of the worst performances I’ve been involved in as a team and I think a lot of people would probably say that as well.

“We still got a point at the end of the day, the boys in that game dug in deep into the game and got a point. You could tell the morale after the game was low because that wasn’t good enough at all. Then we came in, worked hard in training and spoke to each other.

“We know the quality in the team and we just had to be confident, especially after Saturday’s win against top of the league. Against Stoke as well, we have got to take massive confidence from both of those games from two good teams.

“Stoke was probably one of the toughest games I’ve been involved in, I was really surprised how well they were on the ball and kept the ball well. It’s the three points at the end of the day, it’s how hard we worked into those 92 minutes of the game and that’s what got us the three points.”

Against both Blackburn and Coventry, talented teenager Sindre Walle Egeli found the net for his first two goals in Town colours since moving from Danish side FC Nordsjælland in August.

On the Norwegian, Davis said: “It takes time to settle in. He’s still a young boy moving from a different country, which will be hard, not seeing friends and not seeing family that often. That’s always one thing I found tough when I moved away from home.

“For his age, he’s just got to believe in himself. He’s got the quality, he’s a very good footballer and I see it every day.

“Now he’s starting to feel confident out there and you can see he’s starting to enjoy his football and doing everything he can for the team.”

Photo: TWTD

Saturday 17th Jan 12:30

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