Two goals from supersub Jon Stead saw the Blues to a deserved 2-0 victory over QPR at Portman Road. Stead netted twice in three second half minutes as Town leapt to eighth in the Championship.
In soaking wet conditions with rain continuing to fall steadily throughout the match, Jim Magilton named the expected side with David Norris replacing Jon Stead, Jon Walters, wearing a bandage on his head from the start, moving up front with the former Plymouth man coming in on the right of midfield.
The first action of note saw Owen Garvan pick up a yellow card for a foul on Lee Cook right in front of the QPR dugout. Cook, on loan from Fulham, hit the first serious shot of the game a minute later, but failed to trouble Richard Wright,
On nine Gareth McAuley felt he had been impeded in the area as Owen Garvan sent in a freekick from the right, but referee Trevor Kettle wasn't interested.
Cook curled a freekick from a tight angle on the QPR right on to the top of Richard Wright's bar and out for a throw in the 14th minute.
Two minutes later only a stunning Richard Wright saved stopped the visitors from going in front. Daniel Parejo crossed from the left and Martin Rowlands looked destined to score with his close range header until Wright dived to his left and stuck out an arm to push the ball away from goal. It was a fantastic stop to go with a number of others made by the former England keeper this season.
McAuley claimed that his header from another Garvan corner had hit a hand in the 25th minute but again referee Kettle wasn't interested. David Norris curled the loose ball into keeper Radek Cerny's arms.
The Town number 10, back after his one-match ban for his red card last week, shot with from 25 yards, soon after Samuel Di Carmine had struck a weak effort through to Wright.
Just before the half hour the game threatened to boil over when Daniel Parejo fooled referee Kettle into giving a freekick with what was an obvious dive â€" by no means the first from a QPR player - around 25 yards from the Blues goal. The Town players reacted angrily and Parejo and McAuley were spoken to by the referee.
When the freekick was finally taken, Wright did well to get down to his right to push Parejo's shot past his post. After the freekick incident, the game went through a niggly spell and QPR striker Samuel Di Carmine was lucky that referee Kettle missed his off the ball kick at Veliche Shumulikoski.
Town broke quickly in the 38th minute down the Rangers right, Norris sending in a cross which eventually reached Garvan at the far post. The midfielder took two strikes at goal, both of which were blocked.
A minute later, Walters got away on the right of the QPR area and hit a powerful shot which Cerny gathered cleanly despite the conditions.
Parity was just about the right situation at the break, both sides having had spells and chances to go in front. Perhaps the best opportunity of the first period was Rowlands's header, which Richard Wright did superbly to stop. The conditions were difficult but the Blues had managed to play some good stuff.
The first chance of the second period fell to David Norris inside the area after his was found by Jon Walters. The midfielder's shot was blocked and Walters sent the follow-up over the bar. Moments later, Walters headed a Garvan corner straight at Cerny.
McAuley nodded a Garvan freekick wide but when offside in the 54th minute with the Blues having been well on top since the break. Four minutes later, Pablo Couñago replaced Alan Quinn, Owen Garvan moving to left midfield and David Norris into the centre.
Couñago's introduction had an immediate impact, the Spaniard threading in Kevin Lisbie one-on-one with Cerny. The striker seemed certain to score but shot straight at the keeper. It was a bad miss and had some fans thinking that Town would fail to make their dominance tell as they had against Charlton in midweek.
Shumulikoski shot through to Cerny in the 65th minute prior to Jon Stead taking over from the under par Lisbie up front. Soon after, Cook shot wide from the edge of the Town box after a corner was half-cleared.
The Blues went in front in the 72nd minute when Couñago and Walters combined to find Stead space in the area. The summer signing from Sheffield United's first strike was saved by Cerny but the former Spurs stopper couldn't hold on and the grounded Stead nodded into the empty net from a couple of yards out for his fourth goal of the season.
Three minutes later he had his fifth of 2008/09 and Town's second of the match. Garvan swung in the corner from the left and Stead met it with a powerful header which gave Cerny no chance.
Town were by now very comfortably on top. Stead sent a low ball into the box past Fitz Hall but Couñago, surprised that the ball had beaten the defender, stabbed over the bar.
The Spaniard's poor form in front of goal continued. On 85 Stead played him in one-on-one with Cerny but the striker shot straight into the keeper's arms. A minute later, Garvan's low corner was dummied by Walters, the ball hit Couñago and bounced wide.
Stead came close to completing his hat-trick in injury time when he curled a freekick around the wall but with Cerny well beaten, the ball bounced back off the post to Couñago, who again fluffed his chance.
A deserved victory for the Blues whose season appears to have been turned around in the last eight days. The impressive win at Plymouth was followed by the dominant performance against Charlton in midweek when the only things that were missing were a second goal and the ability to keep a clean sheet.
Both those were achieved against QPR, a side some way better than Charlton had been on Tuesday. The Blues probably should have been in front earlier than they were with a number of chances missed and it took the introduction of Stead, poor against the Addicks, to finally break the deadlock. After that, there were more than enough opportunities for Town to add to their total.
The Blues are starting to look more and more confident with every game and there are definite signs that the corner has now been turned and that the rest of the season is more likely to be played with Town in the top half of the table looking to push into the play-off places and beyond.
Town: R Wright, Volz, D Wright, Naylor, McAuley, Shumulikoski, Garvan, Norris, Quinn (Couñago 58), Lisbie (Stead 67), Walters. Unused: Supple, Bruce, Miller. Att: 20,966.