John was at Birmingham between February 2002 and September 2004
Striker Stern John says Bristol City must focus on the positives despite a frustrating draw at home to Blackpool.
John came closest to breaking the deadlock only to see his header cleared off the line as the Seasiders held on for a point in a 0-0 stalemate.
"That was a great chance for us to cement our place in the play-offs and even push for automatic promotion.
"But we need to stay positive, go to Birmingham, roll our sleeves up and get a result," he told BBC Radio Bristol.
The result was doubly disappointing for City as leaders Wolves and promotion-chasing Reading both lost on Saturday, while Birmingham went down at Sheffield United on Sunday.
But John hopes that City will have more luck and more of an opportunity to show their qualities in a more open game against his former club Birmingham on Wednesday.
"We had a couple of clear cut chances, but that's just how it is sometimes and we've got to take the positives out of the game," he added.
"Teams like Blackpool are fighting for their lives and when they come to a place like Bristol they have two banks of four and it's sometimes hard to break them down.
"We did well to break them down, but we just didn't take our chances and on another day it could have been 5-0.
"Going back to St Andrew's is always special for me because it's one of the places where I really enjoyed my career and the fans really took to me.
"I still live in Birmingham and I still have a lot of friends who are Blues supporters so they're going to give me a lot of stick.
"But I need to do my job there and if I get a chance to play and a get an opportunity I'll score."
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