Town midfielder Jack Taylor says he enjoys playing in early kick-offs ahead of the Blues’ lunchtime trip to Derby County this weekend.

Saturday’s Championship fixture at Pride Park was brought forward to a 12.31pm kick-off after being selected for television coverage by Sky Sports.

It means the Blues will have the chance to move back to within four points of the automatic promotion places and return to winning ways after two matches without victory.

While many in the Town squad will argue for a later time slot on the fixture calendar, Taylor claims an early start has its benefits.

“It’s a personal preference, I enjoy early kick-offs,” he said. “I like the idea of waking up, having one meal and then playing a football match, rather than waiting until three.

“Some lads really enjoy night games so it all depends, but early kick-offs I enjoy.

“I like waking up, having breakfast, getting on the coach and getting to the ground. Then you’re at the stadium by 10 to 10.30. First thing in the morning is the best thing, I think.”

Town’s journey this weekend sees them return to what has traditionally been a happy hunting ground, having won four of their last five visits to Pride Park.

The Rams have improved since their early-season draw at Portman Road in August, currently finding themselves only two points outside the play-off places.

Taylor said: “They’re on a good run of form. I’m pretty sure the stadium will be a full house with the momentum they’ve got.

“They’ve obviously got really good players, especially at the attacking end of the pitch. We know how the manager likes their team to play like, it’s going to be nice and aggressive and big on second balls.

“It’s obviously a tough place to go, most of the squad’s played there and it’s an early kick-off as well. We’ll be up for it and hopefully we can play our football.

“Their manager prides himself on second balls, being aggressive and trying to win every duel possible around the pitch. We know we’ve got to double down and come out on top of them duels. Hopefully momentum will swing our way.

“We see more of the low blocks at Portman Road. Hopefully tomorrow they come at us a little bit, help us play our football and hurt them in transitions more.

“But it’s on us to put on a performance and hopefully get the win.”

Derby were certainly active in the January transfer window, with John Eustace signing no fewer than five new players.

One of those is familiar, with Blues forward Sammie Szmodics completing a loan move in the final hours of the window after a deal sheet had been agreed.

Asked whether it will feel different seeing Szmodics in the opposition camp, Taylor said: “It will be strange, but it will be nice to see him and have a little catch-up.

“He’s a great player to lose, but that’s the club’s decision and it was away from any of our decisions.

“I just wish him all the best for the rest of the season and hopefully he gets back to scoring goals.”

So far this season, one of the biggest criticisms of Kieran McKenna’s side has been their struggles when falling behind in matches.

It’s been nearly two years since Town last came from behind to win, during the last Championship promotion campaign when defeating Bristol City 3-2 under the Portman Road lights.

“The year that we went up two years ago, we made a lot of special moments coming from behind, but we don’t really want to make that a habit,” Taylor said.

“It’s football and in some games you’ve got to find a way. For the last 20 minutes of the game last weekend [against Preston] was a good sign about that. On another day, we’d have scored two or three with penalty opportunities and stuff like that.

“We need to implement that more because you’ll need moments like that in the season, instead of taking one point, taking three. I think that will come.

“It’s a different aspect of the game. The season we went up two years ago, teams didn’t really expect us to play how we did and they came after us a little bit more.

“Now we’re playing against a lot of teams that are low-blocking and getting bodies behind the ball which is harder to break down.

“We’re expected to win every game now in the Championship, which was completely different two years ago. That’s the challenge we’ve got ahead of us and we’ve got to take it.”

Town’s fixture list is set to become even more congested with their trip to Portsmouth still to be played after Tuesday’s scheduled meeting at Fratton Park was called off.

The Blues will need to make a third trip to Hampshire after the original staging last month was also postponed for a frozen pitch.

On the frustrations, Taylor said: “It’s natural to feel that way. Coming home after not even playing a game is a little bit different on the bus.

“We’ll have to find out what day the rearranged fixture is going to be, and hopefully it goes ahead this time.

“It’s not ideal considering we went down there twice, but that’s football. It’s a tough one to take because we’ve got to go down there a third time.

“I’m just glad that it was all sorted a bit earlier so the fans didn’t make their travels. I know some probably would have been caught in it. This one was done nice and earlier so it was much better.

“We found out at the hotel. It’s football and you’ve got to deal with it. We had to adjust our schedule a bit on that day. We’ll have to go back down there and hopefully take three points off them.”

Photo: TWTD