Town boss Mick McCarthy said he was certain Daryl Murphy would soon get back amongst the goals after his previous three performances, the Irishman having helped himself to his first hat-trick in 11 years - and his first in English football - as the Blues won 5-2 at Rotherham.
"Everybody is delighted for Murph, it’s lovely to have him back playing,” McCarthy said. "I think Brett Pitman’s had a big role to play in that. I think physically he’s taken on some of the responsibility.
"It’s been sad for Didzy because he’s been carrying a groin injury and he’s ended up being injured.
"And I think with Freddie out on the left we’ve almost been a three at times when we’ve played narrow with Kevin Bru and I think Murph’s benefited from that. But he’s still got to score his goals and I’m delighted for him.”
He added: "Somebody said to me the other day, form is temporary and class is permanent and I think that rule fits for him.
"I was certain he was going to get them after the last three performances when he’s got back to his real hard-working self, being a real pest to play against and being tough and strong up front.
"He gets chances when he’s like that, if it’s bouncing off him and coming back, he doesn’t. If they’re all winning the first headers he doesn’t get chances.
"He’s been back to his diligent best and then he plays better and I’d imagine he’s put himself in Martin O’Neill’s mind.
"I don’t pick teams for anybody else but they’ll have a few injured, a few missing. Shane Long’s injured, Jonathan Walters is suspended and the free-scoring Daryl Murphy comes along for the Bosnia game, so who knows. Hasn’t done him any harm, has it?”
The Town boss isn’t too surprised that the 32-year-old hadn’t previously scored a hat-trick since he brought him into English football when he signed him when Sunderland boss in the summer of 2005.
"Not really because he’s only ever scored about 10 or 13 a season and I suppose he’s someone who doesn’t normally get hat-tricks,” he said.
"Maybe last season I was surprised he didn’t get one getting 27 in the season. But you know what? I’d prefer him to spread the 27 out. Just get winners in those 0-0s, games when we’ve had draws when we might have won. But it came at a nice time, didn’t it? Really welcome.”
Overall, McCarthy was delighted with the result and the performance, aside from the two Rotherham goals.
"It was a great game for us,” he continued. "I was going to say it should have been better but I don’t know how much better you get than a 5-2 victory away from home.
"Their first goal was a bit of an unstoppable shot, but I still think we should have been tighter and not let him in on the inside. Fabulous though, he’s a good player Brandon Barker.
"The second one, we went to sleep, dozy back four, and let him in. Great strike, but he should never have got there and I’m miffed about that, that annoyed me.
"But overall, as I said to the lads, it was an outstanding performance when we’ve put five in and we could have put maybe another three or four in, we were running riot in the first half.”
He added: "I’ll enjoy the result and the performance because it was good but those two could have been the ones that cost us because if they get another one they’d be rampaging forward all of a sudden and we’d be wondering what was going on.
"I don’t particularly like that. We should have been a bit more secure. But it was a great performance, I thought going forward we were excellent today.”
Having started slowly in a number of games, McCarthy was delighted to see his side start on the front foot and almost score in the opening minute.
"Lee Camp saved the first one from Freddie with his heel which would have been after seconds.
"I think a lot’s been made about our dip in form but we’ve lost four games, which I think was the eighth worst in the league or best, if you like.
"If I look back at two games which cost us four points, Brentford, when we gave it away in the last minute, which we should never have drawn, and Nottingham Forest we’d be four points better off and nobody would be saying anything because we’d be up near the top six probably.
"We do moan about those things. And today, we’re not trying to let them off the hook, it gave me a bit of a murmur of the ticker for a while when it went to 4-2.”
The result sees the Blues go into the international break after some positive results, unlike the two earlier in the season: "It makes a pleasant change, doesn’t it?”
Rotherham boss Neil Redfearn felt his side were poor from the off: "It started in the first minute, Danny Collins trying a back header to Lee Camp and putting the lad [Freddie Sears] completely free in front of goal.
"Campy made a good save, we got away with it but it all went on from there - really tentative, nervous. I can’t understand why they were nervous or why they needed to play like that.
"We’ve been to Middlesbrough where you have got a reason to be nervous against a top side and defended well and made it difficult for them.
"Today, we were really negative in midfield, we didn’t get close enough to them, we didn’t work hard enough, we didn’t do the ugly stuff well.
"We talked all week about Ipswich and Mick and how he gets his teams playing in the Championship: very 4-4-2, they’ll go from back to front, they get the next one and then they play, and they did exactly that today.
"It must have been the 35th minute before we had a centre-half that won a header. Murphy had his own way too much, he bullied us at the back. We just looked like we were going to concede.”
He thought it was too easy for Town to grab their goals: "The bare minimum that your supporters can expect is the effort and the endeavour and that whoever comes to play knows that they’ve been in a game.
"If we’re a little bit short and they’re better than us and someone screams one in and it’s 1-0 and you hold your hand up. Sometimes you can’t do anything about that. But the goals were so easy. Ipswich haven’t had to work hard to get the goals.”