Nigel Clough says Burton Albion can take spirit and momentum into their back-to-back home games against Leeds United and Norwich City over the festive period.
The Brewers host Leeds on Boxing Day (3pm) hoping to continue their mini-resurgence that has seen them travel to both Bolton Wanderers and Reading and come away with maximum points.
And Clough reckons that the manner in which Albion dispatched Reading - albeit benefitting from a huge slice of good fortune for Tom Naylor's late winner - can fire his charges up for the visit of promotion-chasing Leeds.
The main driving force, though, should be the desire to stay out of the bottom three - which they are out of now for the first time since the middle of November.
"It gives us confidence, lifts our spirits and I think the last two results give us a bit of momentum," Clough said of the 1-0 win over the Royals on Saturday.
"In the three before that, we felt very hard done to.
"We made a mistake at Derby and lost 1-0.
"We should have got a draw against Sunderland and we should have got a draw against Preston.
"Three 0-0's puts us in a different position, so we're hoping it’s just turning round slowly.
"It's just about backing it up all the time and trying to get a small run going, which is difficult in the Championship.
"We've lost seven on the spin at home, so it'll be nice to try and stop the rot at home with either a win or a draw - especially in the Christmas period when you've got so many games.
"It's now about trying to pick a few more points up in the next three matches.
"We're out the bottom three and we're trying to stay out of it now."
Whenever one of the truly 'big' teams comes to the Pirelli Stadium, it truly puts into perspective where Albion have come from.
But for Clough, this will happen every week while the Brewers are still in the second-tier.
And the fact that next week's opponents, an ex-Premier League Norwich, languish in the bottom-half of the Championship table speaks volumes as to just how strong the division has become.
"Every week it does," Clough said of bigger teams than Burton coming to the Pirelli.
"Everyone's much bigger clubs than us and the strength of the Championship and the teams in it now with the ex-Premier League clubs is incredible.
"We are the smallest team, not one of them.
"The reality is we are the smallest team by a country mile and we're playing against one of the biggest clubs in the country (Leeds).
"You look at Norwich in, what, 16th position - there's some big clubs down there.
"And it was the same last year but they've all improved, though.
"Cardiff were down there last year, Villa and Bristol City were down there.
Reading v Burton
"And they're all chasing the top six now.
"So it's the strongest it's ever been, the Championship."
