Chris Davies: Birmingham City boss says his side have to try to “be themselves” away from home

Birmingham City “might never be the same team away from home” but are showing signs their form on the road is improving says manager Chris Davies.

Blues go to Southampton on Saturday (15:00 GMT) having picking up just eight points from a possible 27 away games.

Only Watford, Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth – the latter two being in the bottom three – have picked up fewer points on their travels.

Blues’ away record is in stark contrast to their superb efforts at St Andrew’s with only runaway leaders Coventry City able to better their six wins and 21 goals.

Davies said the last two away performances – a 2-1 defeat by Middlesbrough and a 1-1 derby draw with West Bromwich Albion – have been encouraging.

“There were good signs against a good team [Boro] that we were more than competitive,” he told BBC Radio WM.

“Against West Brom, we get something out of the game and showed a bit of resilience

“If you combine those two together, you’ve got a decent formula for getting something from an away game.

“We have to try to be ourselves. If we change and sit on the edge of our box for 90 minutes we’ve got less chance of winning the match, there’s no doubt about that.

“We might never be the same team away from home but we obviously need to improve our results.”

Davies said he does not think the difference in results at home and away is down to any psychological issues, adding “the messaging around the games remains the same”.

“Possibly earlier in the season there was maybe a bit of trepidation around some of these games – ‘are we good enough?’ but I think our confidence has grown,” he added.