Town boss Paul Jewell was delighted with his side’s 3-0 home victory over Cardiff City, although he admitted he thought keeper Arran Lee-Barrett was going to be red-carded for his early foul on Bluebirds striker Joe Mason. The win was Town’s fourth in a row and their sixth in seven games against Cardiff.
Jewell said: "It was a good result against one of the top teams. There was a spell in the first half where we had to ride our luck a little bit but overall I thought we were worthy winners.
"We had to dig in for 20 minutes in the first half because Cardiff caused us a few problems but we were resolute, we had a little bit of fortune and once we scored, you could see the confidence in the team.”
He admitted that he felt he might needed to call on second-choice keeper Alex McCarthy, feeling that Lee-Barrett may have been fortunate to avoid first use of the Wash and Go: "Probably. I’ve only seen it live and my initial reaction was ‘get your gear off Alex’.
"But I did see the ball go quite a bit wide and the linesman was on that side, so if anyone had a good view, it was him.
"Maybe we might have [been fortunate] but there have been plenty of times this season when we haven’t had the rub of the green.”
Jewell, whose side is up to 16th, 11 points off the play-offs and 15 from the relegation zone, was pleased with his team’s workrate: "[The industry] starts at the front with Michael Chopra, Lee Martin, Daryl Murphy and even Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.
"You can see the crowd warm to that. The least we expect is hard work. But we are running around playing with confidence.
"We’re a difficult team to play against at the moment because we’re in people’s faces and we’ve got athleticism about the team.”
Two-goal Martin impressed his manager, which he admits hasn’t always been the case: "He’s found a little role in the team.
"Lee and I have our ups and downs, it’s been well documented, he’s been ill-disciplined at times, but I think he’s maturing as a footballer and he’s taking a bit of a lead role in our team. He’s one of the leaders, if you like.
"I’ve got nothing but praise for him, he’s found that position, he’s working hard, he’s adding goals to his game and he’s playing with supreme confidence and great energy and he’s a focal point of our team at the moment.”
Jewell was also pleased with his other midfielders, who he says have been crucial to Town’s recent resurgence: "People have come into the team, Andy Drury and Luke Hyam, and played exceptionally well and we’ve found a position which suits Lee Martin.
"I also thought Daryl Murphy was excellent today. I thought his workrate and his industry both on and off the ball was terrific and he had a hand in two of the goals.”
Defensively, the Blues boss was delighted with the first back-to-back clean sheets since September: "What we’ve done at the back this year, whatever back four has played, is make basic errors, individual errors which cost us goals.
"I guess two months ago we would have conceded in that dodgy spell in the first half, even maybe a couple of goals because that’s what’s happened so far this season.
"But we’re playing with that confidence, that belief and that desire and people have taken their chances in the team.
"If you get clean sheets you don’t lose matches, I know it’s an obvious saying. We went to Portsmouth and won 1-0 and it wasn’t a backs to the wall performance.
"Again we kept a clean sheet today. The back four have been vilified by people this year and I’d rather say it’s a team thing rather than a unit of the team — we defend as a team and we attack as a team and at the moment we do look a decent team.
"Both Tommy and Damien, and Cressy and Carlos were terrific," he added. "It was a good performance.”
Cardiff boss Malky Mackay was pleased with his team’s first half display but less so their second: "We started the game well enough and over the course of the first half had plenty of attacks round about their goal.
"We gave the ball away 20 yards from our nets and they scored a good goal from it, so I was disappointed with that, and they had another chance.
"But over the whole of the first half I was quite happy with the way we were playing. Second half, we were second best.”
But it was referee Simon Hooper’s failure to red card Lee-Barrett which particularly irked the one-time Norwich defender: "It was incredible. At the time, the whole stadium, even the Ipswich fans, have got their hearts in their mouths. Their manager blows his cheeks out and looks at me when the yellow card goes up.
"It’s an incredible decision. It’s one that I asked [referee Simon Hooper] about at half-time and he felt that the goalkeeper tried to nick the ball away from our centre-forward with one foot.
"I think anybody who has looked at it has seen two feet off the ground, flying in. He hits him about the knee and takes him out.
"I think if that’s challenge by two midfielders or a centre-back on someone in the middle of the park, forget goalscoring opportunity, it’s a sending off, never mind last man, him being the goalkeeper and the man running round him to score.
"It’s a defining moment, one that I cannot get my head around and it’s one that the referee’s supervisor and the head of referees will see on Monday, and I’ll be looking for feedback immediately.”