Boss Paul Cook has complimented Town supporters for remaining behind his team during the Blues’ tough start to the season, saying it’s something from which they should take pride.
"Despite high expectations after the squad was rebuilt over the summer, Town’s early-season form was underwhelming but latterly has been very much on the up, culminating in Tuesday’s superb come-from-behind 4-1 win at Wycombe Wanderers.
"I think the biggest compliment that I can pay our supporters is that we haven’t had a great start to the season, yet at no point has that transmitted to the players,” Cook said.
"And I think that should be the biggest, proudest thing Ipswich Town fans take from the start of our season.
"In most clubs now, and I’ve managed for quite a long time, fear, negativity transmits from terraces on to the pitch and it affects the players.
"Anything that we’ve done wrong this season has been totally self-inflicted and nothing to do with our supporters.
"Our supporters have been amazing and it was great the other night for the players to feel that energy when scoring in the away end and seeing what it does to supporters.
"We had a glimpse of it at Portsmouth, the energy the fans give us and how we carried the result home.
"To turn up like we did at Wycombe, we’ve gone to Wycombe and Portsmouth and won, Plymouth’s just part of that journey. You lose - it’s football.
"The biggest thing for me is the supporters supporting the team when they most need them. We most needed our supporters in the early stages of this season and they’ve been there to a man for us.
"So we’re aware of it, we’re knowledgable about it, we want to make sure that we send them home like we did the other night where they go into work the next morning after travelling and paying a lot of money absolutely delighted and looking forward to the next game.”
He added: "My biggest thing that I’m enjoying at the minute is seeing the connection between the players and the supporters.
"I think it’s absolutely huge. When we come home and look back at some of the stuff and what we do and analyse the game, we see the goal celebrations and how much it means to the players and, more importantly, how much it means to the supporters.
"So the reality of it is that it means the world to us all and that’s what I love about fans, and that’s my biggest compliment to Ipswich fans.
"We’ve had a really poor start to our season. The last 10 games haven’t been so bad, we’ve been doing OK, but the first six were really, really disappointing, but at no stage has that transmitted.
"And that’s why I feel the reaction after Plymouth should be a positive one if we can because we’ve seen at Portsmouth and we’ve seen at Wycombe now in two weeks what players can do.
"So the reality is we are getting stronger, without a shadow of a doubt. And we’re learning as we go along. But our support has been so consistent and strong that they deserve success, and we’re lucky enough to have the privilege and honour to try and deliver that for them.
Cook says it’s important for the momentum both on the field and on the terraces to be maintained tomorrow.
"Just win,” he said. "The other week we were talking about whether we can win two games on the bounce for the first time. Just win.
"The reality is when you win everyone bounces around so much happier, the feeling it brings to the community, you’re only seeing the supporters’ faces at the end of games.
"You know what it means, you come out and hear them singing and dancing and that for us is inspiring.
"For Ipswich Town, we’ll probably have about 15,000 fans in the stadium tomorrow and I wouldn’t imagine to guess, and I don’t want to be clever, the previous rounds at Ipswich Town have probably been eight, nine or 10,000. The reason why the fans are turning out is because of the optimism and we’ve got to drive that on.”