Town boss Mick McCarthy says today’s opponents Brentford are no longer the surprise package that they were earlier in the season. Promoted from League One last season, the Bees have been one of the sides in the upper reaches of the division for most of the campaign.
"I think it’s one of those where they’re promoted and nobody’s expecting anything of them, but from halfway through the season onwards it’s been of no surprise to anybody how good they are," he said.
"They’ve got good players. I think he’s taken some good loan signings in, he’s got a nice way of playing. He must have a good rapport with his players and he gets the best out of them.
"They’ve not been a surprise to anybody for a number of months because they’re a very good team.”
Why does he think they’ve done so well? "One, they’ve obviously got a good manager in Mark Warburton.
"They’ve got some good players. Andre Gray’s a real handful up front. Jota’s a good player, Alex Pritchard’s a really good loan signing.
"He is a talent, a bit like Jonny Williams for us when we had one up front with him playing in behind, he’s that type.
"He can use the ball, it doesn’t embarrass him at all. He’s got a goal in him. A very, very useful player, he’s been a good loan signing for them.
"I think they’re very good up front, whether it’s Alan Judge or Jon Toral or whoever it might be.
"They have a good way of playing, they stick to it and they’re just a constant threat. They keep going.
"They don’t change the way they play, they’re consistent in what they do and their approach to it. I think all those things help to make you a good team.”
After back to back defeats, facing a fellow promotion contender will be tough, but McCarthy believes that that could work in Town’s favour.
"We can’t do anything about it whether it’s a good game or a bad game in terms of who we’re playing,” he added.
"If we were playing Blackpool it wouldn’t make any difference except that I’ve got three cameras in front of me today so there’s a lot more interest in Ipswich and Brentford than there would be in a lot of games this season.
"That creates a better atmosphere, that creates a bit more interest, probably stimulates the players more and they know what a tough game it’s going to be. From that point of view, it makes it a better game.”
He says the Blues need a win to remind their promotion rivals that they’re still very much in the hunt.
"Of course we do and that’s what we try and do every week,” the Town boss continued. "That doesn’t fluctuate, we don’t try and do anything other than win the game whatever position we’re in.
"It’s just becoming more and more important to win because we’ve lost two on the bounce for the first time in the league. We’re playing a promotion rival and we’re running out of games. It increases the emphasis on winning.”
Having based their success this season on their defensive solidity Town have kept only one clean sheet since the turn of the year.
Asked whether the emphasis needs to be on being difficult to beat, McCarthy said: "We always try to be hard to beat, we don’t set off with the intention that we’ll be hard to beat one week and won’t the next.
"But I get the point. I think in general play we have been hard to beat. The first goal was a freekick on Wednesday night, then we got caught on the break, which is totally unlike us, to be honest.
"And there were tiny little errors in amongst all that which end up being a big error and it ends up in the back of the net. And so, yes, we’ve got to get back to being a bit more ruthless, I think.”
Today’s match is the first of two against sides in the top six with the Blues visiting Middlesbrough - now second behind Bournemouth who won 5-1 at Fulham last night - next Saturday and McCarthy isn’t undervaluing their importance to Town’s promotion aspirations.
"For fear of stating the obvious when we’re playing teams above us and we’re in seventh, [the games are] pretty damned important.”