THEIR paths crossed as both players and managers, so Owen Coyle is far from underestimating how tough a task it will be to get one over on Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich.

Coyle takes his Rovers side to Portman Road today looking to continue their winning start to 2017 in a bid to climb out of the Championship relegation places.

Ipswich, regulars around the play-off places in recent seasons, have endured a more difficult time this time around, sitting 15th with 21 games of the season left.

But Coyle knows it will be no easy task against McCarthy’s side, particularly at Portman Road where they have lost just nine of their previous 59 home league games.

“He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s someone I’ve a lot of time for,” Coyle said of the former Republic of Ireland manager.

“He’s had a great career but still very enthusiastic and it will be good to catch up with him.

“He’s someone I have got a lot of time for, him and his staff are real football people.

“After the game we will always sit down and catch up, because he’s a man I’ve got a great deal of time for, he’s done a wonderful job wherever he’s been, but we’ll be looking to come out on top.

“We know that our objective is to move up the table and we want to be doing that sooner rather than later.

“The only way to do that is to keep picking up points so the onus is on us to continue that momentum to start elevating ourselves up the league.”

McCarthy is seven years Coyle’s senior at 57, but the pair were once team-mates back in their Republic of Ireland Celtic days.

Coyle revealed: “Our paths have crossed many, many times.

“I actually played with Mick in a B game, I think he was suspended for the full team and Jack (Charlton) wanted him to play in the B international which I played in.

“At Celtic he was a centre back when I was coming through and then as managers we have locked horns many times when he was at Wolves.”

Rovers made it back-to-back wins at the start of 2017 with their FA Cup success at QPR, and Coyle hopes it can be the start of something positive for Rovers who have spent much of the season in the bottom three.

He added: “We've said before that momentum in this league is very important.

“The Championship has shown that you can string those wins together and that is what we have got to look to do.”