Nigel Clough reckons Burton Albion's momentum from their festive period might have tailed off because of the FA Cup exit to Birmingham City in January.
The 1-0 defeat to Albion's opponents on Saturday (3pm) came despite Nigel Clough's naming an unchanged side from the stunning 3-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday just days earlier.
Clough's side have won only once since then, February's victory at Barnsley, and have garnered just four points on the road since Sam Gallagher's strike sent Birmingham through to the fourth-round of the competition.
Albion's boss maintains, though, while results have tailed off, performances haven't.
"It was funny because that was as well as we played," he said of the defeat to the Blues.
"We said at the time that having had the good results over Christmas, we played better at Birmingham than we did in any of those games over the festive period.
"I think we lost to the one shot that Birmingham had on the day, and it's funny because we played the full team.
"If we'd have made five or six changes and lost 1-0, everyone would have said it's because we made the changes.
"So that's a good lesson for next season as well - if we do want to make changes we will do.
"It doesn't always guarantee it that if you put your full side out, you're going to get through.
"It was still a very good performance, though, and it’s difficult to gauge how much momentum we lost.
"We went a couple of games unbeaten going into it, played very well again and didn't pick up much form after that.
"So it could well have done that, but not in terms of performances, just results."
Although the Brewers were beaten, Clough is looking for a similar performance in terms of the attacking display they put in.
Ben Turner, Marvin Sordell and Will Miller had the pick of the chances as Albion laid siege on David Stockdale's goal.
And Clough hopes luck will be on the Brewers' side this time.
"We've had good results against Birmingham generally, despite the defeat - which was as well as we've played," he added.
"In all the victories over Birmingham, that was the best performance when we lost against them.
"If we can play like that again, hopefully we won't lose to one shot."
