A TRIP to Millwall is never going to be one for the faint hearted, particularly on a cold Tuesday night in November.

But such is the confidence flowing through the Blackburn Rovers camp at present, midfield star Tom Cairney fully believes they can enter the Lions’ Den this evening and take all three points.

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“Whoever has given us Millwall on a Tuesday night hasn’t been kind to us,” laughed Cairney.

“But as players it’s something we’ve got to get on with.

“It’s another game to see what our young squad is made of, to see if we have what it takes to go down there and turn them over.

“It won’t be easy, not just because it’s on a Tuesday night, and it’s a long way to go.

“But the way the boys are playing at the minute and the confidence we’ve got, I certainly wouldn’t like to back against us.”

Millwall’s home ground is renowned as being one of the most intimidating in the country for visiting teams.

Rovers, however, have an excellent recent record at the Den, both old and new.

They have not been beaten there since May 1991, winning three and drawing two of their last five clashes with the Lions on their own patch.

But it is what is happening in the present, and not the past, that will give Rovers greater belief.

Their rousing 3-1 victory at home to Reading on Saturday extended their winning run to three matches and, temporarily at least, hauled them into the Championship top six for the first time in Gary Bowyer’s reign as permanent boss.

“The atmosphere in the dressing room was buzzing,” said Cairney, who had a hand in Rovers’ first and third goals, both netted by top-scorer Rudy Gestede.

“Three straight wins is rare in this league, especially this season, when you see how tight the table is.

“And it was important that we won so that the win at Nottingham Forest didn’t count for nothing.

“The boys went out there, did it and it was another great second-half performance.”

Rovers slipped one place to seventh later in the evening after Bournemouth beat Brighton & Hove Albion in the late kick-off.

But after so long skirting around the edges of the play-off places, Cairney admitted it was a psychological boost to break into them, however fleeting.

“It was nice to just be in there instead of on the border all the time, which we were a lot last season,” said the 23-year-old, a Championship promotion winner with his former club Hull City.

“I think we’ve deserved to be in there given the football we’ve played but now the results are backing it up as well.

“If we can get in there, psychologically, it should stand us in good stead.”

Cairney pipped star striker Jordan Rhodes to the player of the year prize last season as Rovers finished just two points outside of the top six after a storming 12-game unbeaten run to end the campaign.

Gary Bowyer’s side are currently unbeaten in their last five, a run which has chiefly been inspired by Rhodes’ red-hot strike-partner Gestede and Cairney’s fellow midfielder and man-of-the-moment Ben Marshall.

The in-form duo shared Rovers’ three goals against Reading on Saturday and Cairney is delighted for them both but particularly Marshall, who lives in the same apartment building in Manchester.

“They have been brilliant and long may it continue,” said the Scotland U21s international who, despite his excellent performances for Rovers over the past 15 months, has yet to make the breakthrough into Tartan Army boss Gordon Strachan’s senior set-up.

“Rudy’s two goals on Saturday were fantastic and Ben’s hit a rich vein of form and it’s great to see.

“I travel in with him, along with Corry Evans, so there’s a good mood in the car at the moment!

“But there is at the training ground, too, the place is buzzing.

“It’s good that we’re young but I think there is a growing maturity.

“We’re understanding the league more and we know what it takes to win games in this league.

“That’s what we’re doing at the moment and long may it continue.”

Starting tonight at the Den.