DEFENDER Matt Mills hopes Saturday’s morale-boosting win against Watford can be the catalyst for a run of improved results for Wanderers in the final third of the season.

The 27-year-old helped the Whites to just a second home clean sheet of the season against the Hornets and earned post-match praise from manager Dougie Freedman along with his defensive counterparts.

But Mills feels the result was only what recent performances have warranted, despite being their first in the league since Boxing Day.

And with another home fixture this weekend, against Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers, a repeat display is the order of the day for the in-form centre-back.

Mills said: “I think, in terms of our home form, although the results haven’t necessairly been there, the performances have been really good.

“If we just keep doing as we have been doing, I’m confident we’ll start picking up more wins.

“After the game at Millwall, I’d be lying if I said we weren’t disappointed to have only left with a point, especially given that we missed the penalty.

“Of course, we felt sorry for ourselves a little after the game because we believed we’d done enough to warrant the victory, but we dusted ourselves off quickly because we have some important matches to come.

“We’ve got 14 games of the season left so we can’t afford to dwell on what has already happened. We just need to take confidence from our recent performances and start picking up points.”

Three points in Saturday’s derby would secure back-to-back home wins for the Whites for the first time this season, the last occasion coming last April in the good run they put together at the end of the last campaign.

Saturday’s victory over Watford was just a third in the league at the Reebok this season and club captain Zat Knight, pictured below, concedes the team has not built on that positive end to 2012/13 in a disappointing season, much like their weekend victims Watford.

Knight added: “The Championship is an incredibly unpredictable league with no certainties in terms of results. On their day, anybody can beat anybody.

“At the start of the season, having come so close to promotion in the play-offs, many expected Watford, like ourselves, to challenge high up the table this term, but unfortunately for both of us, it’s not been the case.

“It is fair to say a few teams in the league, including ourselves, got a little complacent in the summer, especially with us having finished so strongly, and it’s not gone as planned.”