Boss Mick McCarthy says hard work has been the key to the Town revival since he took over at Portman Road. The Blues’ 0-0 draw at Cardiff on Saturday saw them to move to six points from the relegation places in 19th, having been bottom of the table when McCarthy took over at the beginning of November.
Since then, they have picked up 24 points in 14 league games, having lost just twice in their last 10 Championship matches.
McCarthy outlined what he has sought to instil in his players: "It’s easy to sit here and talk about it, but first and foremost to try and be organised and hard to beat.
"I think that fundamentally if you work as hard, if not harder, than everybody else you’re going to have half a chance if you’re organised.
"It might sound simplistic and it is, but you don’t ever want to get beaten by teams working harder than you.”
He’s pleased with the way the squad have taken his ideas on board: "They’ve never done anything other than that, they’ve always worked hard. Every week we get our stats and we work as hard, if not harder, than everyone else.
"They really have bought into that team shape and if we can add a bit of quality to it with our final pass, final cross and finishing, then we’ll be a better team. So you’re happy in some respects and not so in others.”
He added: "We’ve had some good results and I think the players deserve the credit for that, without a doubt. They’ve bought into everything I’ve tried to do.
"I think the new guys will help, certainly. Revival’s one thing, but you don’t want to let the patient die. I want it to survive.”
On that note, despite the progress that has been made, McCarthy still insists that there is still much to do to secure Town’s Championship place for next season: "I’m still looking behind me because whatever we’ve done so far it can change so quickly.
"What was nice was that we’d lost two games on the bounce, one a league game and one in the cup, and I didn’t want to lose two league games on the bounce.
"So, it was nice to come to the leaders, who were 26 points in front of us before today [and draw]. I know they’re still the same amount, but I don’t think that was reflected in the performance, I think we were better than that.”