Boss Paul Jewell says he’ll be happy if the media are still talking about Town as promotion possibles nearer to the end of the season. The recent renaissance has led to the Blues again being viewed as Championship dark horses, as they briefly were in the season’s opening few days.
Jewell said: "In a way we’d like to sneak under the radar. I remember us beating Bristol City on the first day of the season and everyone saying that Ipswich are dark horses, but I was thinking that even though we’d beaten Bristol City, we were miles off.
"Then we got exposed in the games against Peterborough and Southampton. Since then we’ve changed a few things around and I’m actually going into the games expecting us to win and enjoying watching us playing the football.
"We’ve got 35 games left, so there’s an awful long time to go. If they’re talking to us with a couple of games to go, I’ll be happier.”
Meanwhile, defender Ibrahima Sonko says he didn’t entirely enjoy his spell on loan with Tuesday’s opponents Portsmouth last season: "It wasn't the best of times. I was in and out of the team a lot and sometimes not even figuring on the bench.
"I was upset to be left out and I loved everyone there, they were very good to me, but it didn't work out."
Sonko says he is happier playing alongside Danny Collins, the two having been at Stoke together, although without featuring together in any first team games for the Potters: "We are good friends off the pitch and on the pitch he is not scared of telling me how he feels about things. I'm a bit more peaceful but we work well together."