Tommy Smith believes Town boss Mick McCarthy has performed a minor miracle during his time in charge at Portman Road, especially since progress has come on the cheap.
McCarthy was true to his word in not getting involved in the late spending frenzy on Monday as the transfer window closed, leaving others to finalise multi-million pound deals in the quest for success.
Smith said: "The gaffer told us after the transfer window closed that if he was to bring players in he would have to spend millions and millions of pounds to better what we already have here, which is something we obviously can’t do at the moment under whatever budget Marcus [Evans] has given the gaffer to spend.
"The gaffer has worked wonders in the transfer market without spending a massive sum and long may that continue because it holds the club in good stead financially as well.”
Smith agrees that players who move in big-money transfers are under pressure to deliver, adding: "I would imagine it adds a dimension of pressure. You are looking at people like Jordan Rhodes — the expectation is that he will fire Middlesbrough to promotion now so there is massive pressure on his shoulders.
"But these guys are attracting big fees and being paid big wages for a reason — they are good players and the majority of them can cope with the pressure. In our case we’ve earned respect from how we went about our business last season, ending up in the play-offs.
"It is tougher to do it again because teams will be taking us a bit more seriously and know what we’re about. Maybe that’s why we had that tough period earlier in the season, because teams were more prepared for what we had to offer.
"We managed to overcome that and hopefully we can go on another good run to cement our place in that top six.
"We are currently more than holding our own despite clubs around us forking out a lot of money on new signings.
"But when teams are spending money there is probably more pressure heaped on them. We put pressure on ourselves internally and we know we should be in and around that top six. We’ll be doing whatever it takes to stay there.
"We believe we can challenge the teams who are there with us. It shows how good the gaffer has been with the additions to the squad that he has brought in on a shoestring budget compared to the other teams. He deserves all the credit he is getting for that.”