Town winger Paul Anderson has admitted that the team’s disappointment at not claiming all three points at Bolton last week is an indication of how far the club has progressed under manager Mick McCarthy.
But he is also quick to point out that no one in the Ipswich camp viewed a point, courtesy of a hard-fought goalless draw, as anything other than a good afternoon’s work — even if it proved costly in terms of league position.
Anderson, 26, explained: "Within the dressing room we thought it was a very good point and we had at least a couple of chances to win the game.
"In the second half, definitely, we were by far the better team and unfortunately for us their keeper made one or two good saves and that meant we couldn’t take the three points.
"But it was still a great team performance once again and keeping a clean sheet meant we were always giving ourselves a chance to go and win the game. We were delighted to get a point because it’s a tough place to go.”
Anderson also admitted that he and his Town colleagues had their sights set on an automatic promotion place, rather than simply adhering to their initial target to finish in the top six come the end of the campaign.
He added: "Obviously, we are expecting to be right up there now. We said at the start of the season that the top six was our aim and coming up to Christmas we’ve got a real chance to push on for the top two.
"We’re not going to get too greedy with that but if we can stay in and around that area, why not be one of the teams up there?
"We are a great team and I think other teams are actually a bit worried about coming to play us, whether it’s at our place or even when we go away because we play exactly the same wherever we go.
"We’re confident within ourselves and hopefully we can just keep the points ticking over as we have been doing. Draws away from home keep us in the right place.”
With Middlesbrough having beaten close rivals Derby in the lunchtime kick-off, Anderson & Co went into the game at Bolton with a chance of claiming top spot in the Championship and he revealed it was a major factor in McCarthy’s pre-match team talk.
He said: "I don’t think we knew the actual final score but when we left the hotel for the ground we knew that Middlesbrough were winning.
"The gaffer just said before we went out ‘What a great opportunity — if you get the three points we’ll be top of the league’ so it gave us an extra incentive.
"We wanted to do it, obviously, but it’s what happens on May 2nd that matters most. It’s just a shame that when you get a good, well-deserved point you go from second to fourth.
"But that’s how tight the league is and we’ve just got to keep going and keep picking up the points as we go along.
"You might get one team — and I honestly couldn’t tell you which one — that might win four or five on the trot and open up a bit of a gap from third.
"Hopefully, it could be us, but it could remain a very tight league. It always is, although there’s the odd year when someone runs away with it, but I think this is a year when it could be any two of several teams who get the automatic promotion places.”