Burton Albion's Lucas Akins is happy for the Brewers to keep clean sheets and grind out points if they are unable to beat sides on the road, and is relishing the prospect of taking on the likes of Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers back at the Pirelli Stadium this week.
Burton raced out of the blocks at the start of their 0-0 draw with QPR on Saturday afternoon - as we have so often seen them under Nigel Clough - with Sean Scannell unlucky not to see his post-striking effort rebound off the back of QPR 'keeper Alex Smithies and nestle into the hosts' goal - with that opening goal proving elusive.
They could have won the match had they been more clinical, but a second successive away point and clean sheet is not to be sniffed at in a division known for its ultra-competitiveness.
And Akins revealed post-match that Burton's game-plan was to try and catch QPR cold early on, which certainly worked for the first-half as the hosts struggled to clear their lines and string any moves together.
Albion missed their big chance, though, as R's boss Ian Holloway altered the dynamic of the game by bringing on target-man Matt Smith - slowing the game down in the process from the high-tempo affair it was earlier on.
"For sure, yeah, it's something we worked on all week," Akins said when asked about heading into half-time on level pegging.
"Obviously starting fast and putting them under pressure - it's something that I thought worked really well, it was just the finishing touches that we lacked.
"At times like that it's going to happen, but when it does happen your need to remain with the basics, stick with them and keep a clean sheet.
"Because you know if you keep clean sheets in this league, you're obviously picking up points.
"It's ticking points off on the tally, so yeah it's something that we want to do now moving forward."
Akins will undoubtedly be happy with a point on the road despite Albion's chances, but he is targeting Tuesday and Saturday's home matches - albeit against more than capable opposition - as chances to pull even further away from the bottom three, with Burton three points ahead of 22nd-placed Sunderland.
Surprisingly, the Brewers play their first back-to-back home games this week coming off the back of Saturday's draw with Rangers, with the fixture list having handed Albion tough start to the campaign - with all three Carabao Cup games taking place on the road, too.
But now it's back to home comforts this week - and Tuesday night under the lights against former European Cup champions Villa is what the Championship is all about.
"We've got two very good home games coming up, games that we feel we can get something from, especially being at home", the 28-year-old added.
"We relish being at home, and we've been on the road a lot this season so far. We've just got to make sure we recover properly and make sure we're ready to go again on Tuesday."
