Jamie McAllister believes now is the time for Bristol City's senior professionals to stand up and be counted.

He admits confidence has been affected by a modest return of one win from 10 games and City's worrying habit of conceding goals and points late in games.

But the Scot insists the more experienced players in the dressing room are doing all in their power to check the slide and effect a turnaround in fortunes.

"There is a greater responsibility on you in these situations when you are a senior professional," admits the 31-year-old left-back, who has this week added his voice to those of fellow experienced campaigners Louis Carey, Paul Hartley and Bradley Orr.

"You have to take it on and not hide away from that responsibility.

"It's important the more senior lads keep the mood upbeat and keep telling the younger lads to believe in themselves.

"You do that by talking to them every day in training and encouraging them. It's important to keep talking them up and tell them they are good enough for this level.

"As one of the more experienced players here, it's a role I'm happy to take on."

This afternoon's mouthwatering FA Cup third round tie against Severnside rivals Cardiff City offers a welcome diversion from the rigours of the Championship and McAllister is urging his colleagues to put recent disappointments out of mind.

He said: "Things could be better and the late goals we've been letting in are frustrating, but we know we are still a good side and, sooner or later, we will prove it."

"When you go through a bad spell like we are, it's important to stick together and come through it. Confidence has been affected a little bit and we cannot afford to let recent results get us down.

"We're still only five points off fourth place in the Championship and have a big derby game against Cardiff to come in the FA Cup.

"Confidence is a big thing in football and one win can change everything and bring the self belief flooding back. There's still a lot to play for and it's definitely not all doom and gloom."

McAllister is certainly looking forward to a break from the Championship and he admits: "Playing in the FA Cup will be something a bit different for us and the game cannot come soon enough.

"Some people are saying we've forgotten how to win, but I don't believe that. We've been close in a lot of our recent games and we'll go out there against Cardiff feeling confident we can get a positive result.

"I think we have to learn to be more confident when we're leading 1-0 and not sit back and invite teams onto us. We also need to improve at the other end of the pitch and make sure we take our chances to kill games off when they come along."

If City are experiencing problems of their own presently, today's opponents are equally fragile after losing at home to lowly Plymouth Argyle on Boxing Day and then surrendering a four-goal lead and two points to basement club Peterborough on Bank Holiday Monday.

McAllister contends: "With the exception of the top two or three sides in the Championship, who are on a good run, everyone is struggling to find their form and string wins together.

"Cardiff are fourth in the table, yet they are no different to us at the moment. They won't be coming here full of confidence, that's for sure, and we have to try and take advantage of that.

"They'll be a bit vulnerable after what happened to them in their last match and we'll definitely take the game to them and try to jump on them early on."

When last the two sides met, the Bluebirds registered a resounding 3-0 success in front of the Sky TV cameras in the Welsh capital back in August.

McAllister acknowledges Cardiff's strengths when he says: "They have good attackers, creative midfielders, a solid defence and are one of the best sides in our league.

"They were better than us when we last played them, but we also have match-winners in our side and we can cause them problems."