The Blues were losing 1-0 at Ewood Park when the game was abandoned in the 80th minute for a waterlogged pitch last September. They were then fortunate to snatch a 1-1 draw in the re-arranged game in early December.

Rovers may be four points above the drop zone, but they have the seventh best away record in the division and have lost only two of seven games against current top six sides.

Town have already played Blackburn twice – with the first match abandoned late on (Image: Ross Halls)

“I think they’re a really tricky opponent, to be honest – especially for teams who like to play with the ball,” said McKenna, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s 12.30pm kick-off at Portman Road.

“When you look at some of the xG difference and stuff like that, they’re not a bottom-of-the-table team. The table is really tight and the results are really tight and I think everyone knows that.

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“You can see the difficult games that they give us. You can see the difficult game that they give Middlesbrough (0-0 away) over the Christmas period. They beat Southampton, beat Leicester.

“Probably if you look at the results since they went to a back five against the teams who have the most possession in the league, it’s probably good results. I understand why. It’s nothing new.

“They’re man-to-man marking, which always makes it difficult to play through the pitch. It means that the game can end up quite broken, quite fragmented. It means your goalkeeper is going to have time on the ball, but it’s hard to get anyone else time on the ball.

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“They run hard. They duel well. They’re aggressive in tackles and they take a lot of set plays and a lot of long throws from both sides. So for a team who want to get the ball and play, have rhythm and play through the pitch, that’s a tough type of team to come up against.

“That’s a challenge for us to rise to tomorrow. It’s nothing new. We’ve faced that type of team down the years. We’re going to need a big effort. I’m not sure it’s going to be a perfectly beautiful performance. It’s really hard to do that against teams who press man-to-man and break the game up well.

“So we need to show a lot of qualities. We’re going to need the crowd right there with us. We’re going to need to show a lot of resilience and, if we do all that, then I think we can produce a good performance against that type of opponent and hopefully get a good result.”

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Sindre Walle Egeli struck at the death to earn Town a point away at Blackburn (Image: Ross Halls)

There are likely to be moments tomorrow when goalkeeper Christian Walton is stood on the ball trying to bait the press. At Coventry recently, the frustrated home fans urged their players to press, that played into the Blues’ hands and Frank Lampard berated his players afterwards for being too affected by the crowd.

Asked if he had a message to supporters ahead of a potentially similar scenario tomorrow, McKenna said: “I’d like to think that most understand how we play now and have seen the benefits and the fruits of it down the years. We’re not perfect, but I’d like to think we’re a better watch than lots and lots of teams you could go and see.

“In games against teams who press man to man, very often it is the goalkeeper who is the one who’s got the time on the ball and if you put the ball quickly to a defender or quickly up the pitch, then you can end up with a really, really chaotic game against that type of opponent and turn the ball over really quick, which is the type of game that Blackburn will want and will excel at.

“Of course, we have to find that balance. You want to put tempo and energy into your games, especially at home.

“Sometimes it’s easier, like you said, in a game like Coventry away, for Christian to almost enjoy having the ball at his feet and know that the home crowd are going to turn a little bit against the opponent for not pressing and you can enjoy taking the sting out of the game.

“At home, you want to get the ball in play. You want to get people off their seat and bring excitement to the game, but also making sure our positions are right and that everyone’s on the same page.

“Of course, fans always enjoy seeing the ball really close to the opponent’s goal rather than your goal, and so do we all, but it’s an important part of a game model (the keeper having the ball at feet) and I think tomorrow that will be one important factor. I trust that the supporters will be right there behind the boys.”