‘Gone up a notch’: Portsmouth, Derby County and Cardiff City fired warning by in-form relegation rivals

And the Luton boss is adamant his side are growing in confidence as the battle for survival heads towards its climax.

The Hatters held third-placed Leeds United to a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road on Saturday as they continued their surprise revival.

The point extended Luton’s unbeaten run to four league games, which included triumphs against relegation rivals Hull and Cardiff in recent weeks. After a disappointing start to his tenure, Bloomfield’s men now appear to have turned a corner and have won three of their past six games - including a 1-0 win over Pompey.

This has seen the Hatters reduce the gap to safety and sit three points behind Derby in 21st. The Bedfordshire outfit welcome 20th-place Stoke this evening as they bid to make further inroads in the deficit.

And the head coach believes his side have hit form at the perfect time of the season, with six games to go in the relegation battle.

Luton hit form at perfect time in relegation battle

Bloomfield told Luton Today: ‘Yes, certainly before Hull, the noise levels around the dinner room the night before the game and just on the bus, have gone up a notch in the last four or five weeks.

‘The belief and confidence amongst the group, you see it. The connection is hard when you’re not winning, it’s easier to come across when you’re winning games and picking up points as everyone’s more open to discussion and interaction and that’s why, we’ve spoken a number of times about the other things we did during that run to try and build those connections, but certainly the nose levels have gone up a notch recently.

‘You can tell the boys believe in what they’re doing, the confidence is there, but we have to keep both feet on the ground as there’s lots more work to do. It’s nice to feel like they’re in a good spot and we keep rolling with it as it’s crucial right now, it’s critical for us to keep that form rolling. There’s no time to drop off, we have to be relentless in our work.

‘Whilst we’re speaking about being in a good spot that can soon change, so we have to be aware of that and just be relentless in our work, in our outlook and focus of the work that needs to be done. We’ve got two more games this week starting with Stoke and we’re certainly hungry for more good feelings as it’s nice when you have it you want to enjoy it and retain that. So we’re focusing on us, keep doing our work, keep picking up points.

‘We feel like we’re in good form at the moment, there’s results going to go on elsewhere between now and the end of the season that we have no control over, so we have to concentrate on ourselves and believe in what we’re doing and keep adding to our total.’

Luton currently sit six points behind Pompey going into the midweek round of Championship fixtures. After the Hatters’ contest against relegation rivals Stoke this evening, they face Blackburn, Derby, Bristol City, Coventry and West Brom in their remaining five games.

Meanwhile, the Blues will be looking to return to winning ways after they slipped to their fourth defeat in six games on Saturday. A disappointing 2-1 loss against Millwall leaves Mousinho’s men four points clear of the bottom three .

Pompey make the 280-mile roundtrip to Coventry on Wednesday and will be backed by more than 2,300 supporters despite their awful away record.

They then take on Derby, Norwich, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday and Hull in their crucial Championship run-in.

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