“IT’LL be great if we win and horrible if we lose,” said Blues boss Mick McCarthy when looking ahead to Sunday’s home derby against Norwich following last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United.

And while derbies are always a cause for wild celebrations on the one hand and tears on the terraces on the other - unless they end in draws, of course - for Town and McCarthy the difference between running out victorious or facing another defeat is even starker than usual.

Having made a decent start to the season by winning their first four league games and hitting second, Town have now dropped to tenth, having lost five of their last seven in the Championship.

While there have been some reasons to be cheerful during that run, most notably the fantastic attacking display as Sunderland were walloped 5-2, the Blues have failed to cast off the flat-track bullies tag which has dogged them in the weeks since those early wins.

And again on Saturday Town, whose victories have all come against teams in the division’s lower reaches, fell short when facing a side from nearer the top.

The third-placed Blades, floating on air after last season’s League One title and their recent derby victory over Sheffield Wednesday, deserved their win.

While they didn’t take the Blues apart in the manner of Fulham, other than a 15-minute spell just before the break when Town had a couple of chances - David McGoldrick will feel he should have scored - and a Martyn Waghorn shot which struck the bar in the second half, the South Yorkshiremen were largely on top and generally fairly comfortable.

That sees the Blues go into Sunday’s derby with the mood among fans on a knife edge.

The good start led to an unexpected wave of positivity replacing last year’s widespread on-terrace fractiousness towards manager McCarthy.

However, those frustrations have begun to resurface during the recent run and a home derby defeat would almost certainly lead to increased discontentment.

Conversely, a derby win over the Canaries would do much to clear the air and restore the early season feel-good factor.

To say a Town derby victory is overdue is a massive understatement, the Blues’ last having been the 3-2 win in Jim Magilton’s final game as boss back in April 2009, a result which all but sealed Norwich’s relegation to League One.

Eight and a half years have subsequently passed in which the Canaries, having extricated themselves from the third tier, have been in the ascendency, the Blues having been top dogs for most of the period prior to that.

Of the current players, only Bartosz Bialkowski - an unused sub in that most recent victory during his loan spell from Southampton - has been in a derby-winning Town matchday squad.

While the Blues were hitting the ground running before the recent downturn, Norwich got off to a distinctly wobbly start under new head coach Daniel Farke after a summer of change at Carrow Road, in part as the Canaries began to make adjustments for what would be a parachute payment free future if they aren’t promoted this season.

Last Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Hull City saw them climb a point and two places above the Blues into eighth and they go into the match the form team, undefeated in their last seven in the Championship, winning four.

However, as per the cliche, the form book goes out of the window for derbies. That said, it’s not as if Town are in markedly terrible form anyway.

The demolition of Sunderland was only a couple of games ago and they weren’t particularly bad in the defeats to Bristol City or the Blades even if they were bested on those occasions.

Norwich striker Nelson Oliveira’s ‘we’re a better club than Town’ comments will have added further motivation for the Blues, not that any was required.

Without wanting to tempt providence, I have a sneaking suspicion that Sunday could finally be Town’s day.

Norwich’s recent upturn has been based on a tight defence while scoring few goals and Town have the attacking strength - even if Joe Garner remains sidelined with his knee injury - to breach any backline, although will need their own defending to be more solid than has often been the case. It would be a victory not just about local bragging rights but one which could prove crucial to Town’s season.

“It’ll be great if we win and horrible if we lose.” Too right.