Boss Mick McCarthy expressed his pride in his Town squad after they picked up another hard-fought away point from their 1-1 away draw against his old club Wolves on Saturday.
"The first thing I just said to them in the dressing room afterwards was ‘What a belligerent, stubborn, hard-working, tough, horrible bunch of sods you’ve turned out to be, and I love you!’.
"‘And I’m proud of you because I think you need all those qualities to be a good team’. And we can play but we’ve certainly got all that and it’s lovely to have.”
McCarthy made no apologies for the no frills approach which has seen the sixth-placed Blues - who are three points plus a superior goal difference ahead of Brentford and Wolves in seventh and eighth with just two games to play - to the cusp of confirming a place in the play-offs for the first time in a decade.
"I would have thought our fans are going home pretty happy that we’ve come and added a point to the two home wins, and with some good performances,” he said.
"I think it takes a lot to get ourselves into the position that we’re in and a lot of those qualities that I talked about are probably the reason why we are where we are.
"It takes a lot of things to be up at the top. There will be teams below us who are all fanning out and playing sexy football and there are some of them that peer down their noses at it.
"We’re winning games, we’re in the top six, we’ve still got a chance of getting promoted, so anybody who cocks a snook at the way we do it, I laugh at them.
"I think it’s comical because I think what we do we do it well and isn’t that what having a job is all about? I’m sure you’d like to think your boss think that you do your job well.”
Elsewhere, West Ham are reported to be ready to make a £5 million move for Blues left-back Tyrone Mings if his predecessor at Portman Road Aaron Cresswell is sold over the summer.
The former Town full-back has been linked with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City after an impressive first season with the Hammers.
It would be little surprise if West Ham have joined most of the rest of the Premier League in keeping tabs on Mings this season, although the Blues are likely to want a fee significantly in advance of £5 million for the former Chippenham defender.
Meanwhile, Town’s U21s are in action against Bristol City at Playford Road this morning (KO 11am).
Last Monday, goals from Jack Marriott, Alex Henshall and trialist Josh Yorwerth saw Mark Kennedy’s side to a 3-0 victory over the Robins at their Failand training ground.