Town boss Mick McCarthy was in no doubt that his side fully deserved their 2-1 home victory over Sheffield Wednesday, despite having fallen behind to Kieran Lee’s first-half goal which came after a mix-up between Bartosz Bialkowski and Christophe Berra. Daryl Murphy and skipper Luke Chambers headed home goals after the break to secure the Blues’ first win in four games.
"It would have been a travesty had we lost that one,” McCarthy said. "Comic cuts for the goal we’ve contrived to give away.
"And then chasing it they had a couple of chances on the break, but that was generally down to us that and they didn’t make the most of them. We deserved to win that.”
The Town manager made five changes and felt that that had given his side a lift: "Maybe having some fresh legs in the team helped. It’s bound to do, some of the lads have played all 30 matches, some of them have played most of them.
"I haven’t got that big a squad and I thought it was time to see if we could get a bit of zip back in the team and I think we did, to be honest.”
He says his team reacted well after Daryl Murphy, who later took his season’s total to 19, had hit the post just before the break: "Murph was so unlucky and we could have come in at half-time and felt sorry for ourselves, him having hit the post.
"If we’d started to think in that period that it wasn’t going to happen for us then it wouldn’t have happened. We had to force it a little bit and they were two good headers.”
He added: "In the first half I thought we certainly tried to play, we had to do that. I thought we were patient, which was good, and played some good football.
"The pitch certainly doesn’t help that, it’s cutting up at this time of the year. But it’s a lot easier to manage and coach and play when you’re winning.”
McCarthy was pleased with the way his half-time substitution - Tyrone Mings replaced Stephen Hunt - worked out.
"I just thought Jonny Parr would just give us a bit more zip if went and played there,” he continued. "Hunty’s been great but I just thought he’d give us a bit more legs, he’s been out of the team for a while.
"Getting Tyrone Mings on, he’d certainly go up the outside of Jonny, which he did. They caused problems between them.
"But it was Bru who actually crossed the ball for the second goal, wasn’t it? It was a great cross from Kevin Bru.”
McCarthy was delighted for his skipper Luke Chambers, who netted his first goal of the season: "Captains make the difference at times and I think he drives the team forward.
"He’s a really good character and he gets in the box. He’s a centre-half really but he’s played that full-back role brilliantly.”
The Town manager also had praise for Darren Ambrose, who was making his third full debut for the Blues.
"He’s got quality Daz, there’s no question," he said. "I made the point, if I don’t give them the chance when we’d not won one in five, when do they get a chance?
"And they needed to play and what’s lovely about the lads who have been on the periphery, they’ve supported everybody else and when they’ve got in, whenever they’ve got an opportunity they’ve always done well, and they’ve done well again tonight.
"Darren, I thought he was excellent and he was unlucky not to score.”
Having halted the recent downturn, the Blues boss wants to keep the run going when Town visit Fulham on Saturday: "It’s maintaining it now and doing it again on Saturday.
"If you play well and don’t make mistakes you’ve got a chance of winning games, and in the main throughout the season that’s what we’ve done.
"But just lately mistakes have cost us. Bad defending on Saturday, a bad one today. Derby it was a mistake. We haven’t played that badly but we’ve gifted teams goals.”
Striker David McGoldrick missed out due to the thigh injury he suffered at Rotherham on Saturday but McCarthy expects him to be fine for the visit to Craven Cottage.
Wednesday boss Stuart Gray admitted his side were second best: "It was our worst performance of the season, without a doubt.
"It wasn’t like us at all and we were like it from the kick-off. They had free headers, they bossed the ball, the possession and we just weren’t at it.
"I told the players at half time that I could have made several changes. We were out-fought and out-battled. Ipswich played to their strengths and deserved to win the game.”