Town boss Paul Jewell thought his side probably deserved to beat Burnley by more than just 1-0 after what he felt was an "excellent" second half performance.
Jewell said: "In the first half, I don’t think it was a great game, it was scrappy and I don’t think either side really dominated.
"They put a lot of passes together in their own half and we couldn’t really pass the ball.
"In the second half I thought we were excellent, created a lot of chances, played with a lot of energy, a lot of quality and showed that we’ve improved over the last two or three months in terms of getting through bad periods in games when we have them.”
The Blues boss, who was delighted with the clean sheet, felt the scoreline ought to have been more comfortable: "It should have been more than 1-0 and when it’s 1-0 you’re always worried that they can score, but I thought we created a lot of good opportunities, a lot of danger from set plays and 1-0 definitely flattered them.”
The Liverpudlian had few arguments with Grant Leadbitter’s late sending off, which will see him suspended for one game: "I thought the first booking might have been a little bit harsh.
"For the second I had my back turned to it. It was the last minute and I think he’s tried to play the old soldier and knocked the ball back to the goalie, kicked it away and the referee’s spotted it.
"That’s the only slight disappointment on the night, we’ve lost Grant for Saturday and in the second half I thought him and Lee Bowyer were excellent.”
The Blues boss thought his side should have had a penalty when Bowyer was fouled by Marvin Bartley in the first half: "Yes, but I thought the ref was good. He got most things right, but I thought he got that one wrong and it was a penalty. He said he didn’t have a great view of it.”
Inevitably, with the Blues now nine points from sixth, questions were asked about Town’s chances of making the play-offs, but Jewell wasn’t getting carried away: "It’s been an unbelievable season both on and off the pitch, it’s been one thing after another really. I’ve said all along we’re taking every game as it comes.
"We don’t want the season to peter out. We’ve got 51 points, are probably safe from relegation and we’re not even thinking about anything other Watford now, recovering tomorrow for Watford on Saturday and that’s it. But people will talk about if we win the next nine games we might get promoted.”
The Town manager had praise for goalscorer Michael Chopra: "He’s got 14 goals for us now and I thought some of his movement in the second half was excellent. He’s not just a good finisher, he’s a good player.
"He’s got 14 goals in a season in which we’ve not struggled to score goals, we’ve struggled to keep them out.”
Jewell admits that at the moment he’s still slightly concerned when Town are defending a one-goal lead late on: "When you’re sat there with our record of conceding late goals and not keeping too many clean sheets, you’re never comfortable. We want to get to a situation where we’re almost comfortable.
"In the second half I can’t really remember them having too many opportunities, if any at all, and it was a good second half display.”
He says there’s been no further progress on the move to sign Portsmouth’s Joel Ward: "We had an informal chat on Sunday and I think they said that if they won on Tuesday they might not let anyone go. That’s as far as I know. I was at a game last night [Chesterfield-Huddersfield] and I haven’t spoken to anybody today about it.”
As for further developments before Thursday’s 5pm deadline, the Town boss wasn’t sure: "There may well be, but I honestly don’t know.”
Jewell says no other moves are ongoing at present: "Nothing that will probably get done tomorrow unless something comes up. As I said yesterday, we’re trying to do things for the long-term.
"We want to try and make sure we finish the season as strongly as possible and if we can get people in place early for next season, we’ll do it, but we’ve got some good players here.”
The Town manager confirmed that striker Jason Scotland was left out of the squad after injuring an adductor in training.
Burnley boss Eddie Howe admitted his team was very much second best after the break: "I was pleased with the first half, I thought we were well in the game and I felt quite confident going into the second half that we could cause them more problems.
"But the second half was really disappointing, we didn't get going. It looked like we lacked our usual spark and zip and just looked totally flat and Ipswich deservedly won the game. We were well below par in the second half. It's hugely frustrating because I felt we could go on and win the game at half-time."