Michael Chopra admits the possibility of Ipswich taking over as early-season Championship leaders has been a major topic of conversation among the players as they prepare to visit current table-toppers Blackpool.
Chopra’s late goal was enough to bank all three points at Watford on Tuesday and it was on the return journey from Vicarage Road that he and his colleagues started to discuss the possibility of occupying pole position.
He said: "We were sitting on the bus talking about it the other night, saying we could be sitting on top of the league if we beat Blackpool. That’s a huge incentive.
"We’re staying up for the game at Carlisle in the Capital One Cup and then we are at home to Huddersfield. Our aim is to be on top going into the international break and to be in the next round of the cup.”
But Chopra knows it will not be easy against Ian Holloway’s men, who were very close to an instant return to the Premiership last season.
Chopra added: "They are the only team with a 100 per cent record after two games, which tells you how tight the division is going to be again this season.
"To be fair they are probably a bit unlucky to be playing in the Championship again because they played so well in the play-off final against West Ham and probably feel they deserved to go up.
"It’s a tough task but if we play the way we’ve been playing recently there’s no reason why we can’t go there and get the right result.
"There have been good performances from the lads in each of our last three games. We have a good set of lads here who are fighting for each other and we didn’t always have that last year.
"We won at Watford on Tuesday but last year, in the last 20 minutes or so, the heads might have dropped and we could have conceded goals. This time we all stuck at it and battled well to get the win that we deserved.
"There haven’t been many new players coming in compared to last year when I think the manager made about 11 new signings. This year the gaffer has kept everybody together and it is benefiting us. Everybody is working hard for each other and our aim is to get promoted.”