City head back to Valley Parade on Saturday with Phil Parkinson telling home fans: We owe you.

Four points and two clean sheets from trips to Leyton Orient and Coventry have revived spirits after the dismal defeat against Walsall nine days ago.

Parkinson wants his side to take that form into this weekend’s clash against Oldham to make amends for that last home outing.

He said: “We now owe our home fans a really good performance.

“I’m sure our supporters will be right behind the team. They will have identified the work that’s gone in.

“Being a football supporter you have highs and lows like a manager and the players.

“We had a low point when we got beaten at home last week but there were reasons for that. Now we have to play well on Saturday. When we do that, whether we win, lose or draw, our fans always get behind us.”

City failed to muster a single shot on target against the Saddlers. But they were badly affected by illness and injury that night.

Andy Gray was suffering with the early effects of shingles and James Hanson was hampered when he came off the bench because of his on-going groin and back problems.

Parkinson’s deadline-day swoop for Jon Stead helped sort out the attacking issues and he has quickly struck up an understanding alongside Aaron Mclean.

The lingering illness has also been cleared out of the dressing room.

The City boss said: “You haven’t got time to feel sorry for yourselves in football. After Walsall, myself, Steve (Parkin) and the chairmen looked at the reasons why we played like that and how we could rectify it.

“It helped us that we got the virus out the club that had been affecting players.

“It’s got to affect you when you’ve got people being sick on the side of the training pitch the day before a game.

“We can’t accept another performance where we don’t threaten the opposition goal.

“We’re going to come up against a team in Oldham who will play 4-5-1. They will sit back and try and frustrate us.

“They did that on Saturday against Brentford and they did that away at Orient.

“It might be one of those days when it could get frustrating. But we’ve got to find a way to create those opportunities and make sure their goalkeeper and back four have to work hard.”

* City will host the Youth Alliance Cup Final against southern winners Colchester after winning the coin toss to choose the venue. The game will take place at Valley Parade on Tuesday, April 29 (7pm kick-off).