City travel to Greater Manchester intent on making a dent in the gap between the club and safety...
Manager Russell Slade is confident the Sky Blues EFL Trophy success can give his players a much needed boost as they head into a crucial month in the fixtures calendar.
City face Oldham Athletic tomorrow, before games against AFC Wimbledon, Gillingham and Swindon Town in the coming weeks, who all currently lie in the bottom half of the standings.
Slade said: “You can see there is a nice little buzz around the training ground, our last game was only a couple of days ago, we’ll get back on it fully today and then travel down to Oldham tomorrow in good spirits.
“It has to start now, that has been the message to the players. We can’t wait, we have to start delivering immediately so they know that. If that’s the pressure we have to deal with that, and I’m sure they’ll rise to the challenge.
“To get over the line and to simply have that winning feeling return and achieving something will hopefully give us a little boost for the next few games. We know what we’re up against, we’ve seen the fixtures and know how important they are."
The Sky Blues travel to the SportsDirect.com Park tomorrow afternoon to face a rejuvenated Oldham Athletic side, after the return of former manager John Sheridan.
Oldham have won three of the new bosses' six fixtures in charge, lifting them up the table to within a point of 20th placed Swindon Town.
“I know John really well, he knows this league," Slade added. "It is the third time he has been with them so doesn’t need anytime to settle. They’ve won some and lost some since he has come in, but gained important points."
“It’s given them a chance, when you win a couple of games it does give you an opportunity to get out of that bottom four and that is what we’re searching for. It’s always a tough place to go.
“They'll be difficult to beat, but their home form has not been fantastic either and let’s hope that can continue for one more week.”