Boss Kieran McKenna is anticipating another tough game against relegation-battling Accrington Stanley at Portman Road on Tuesday as the Blues look to win four matches in a row in League One for the first time since August.
Town go into Stanley’s visit five points behind second-placed Plymouth, who host fifth-placed Derby on Tuesday, with the gap to Bolton, who aren’t in action in midweek, behind them now three points with the Trotters, who the Blues travel to face on Saturday, having played two more matches. Sixth-placed Barnsley host Peterborough.
In addition to four wins in their last four, McKenna’s side have won 4-0 in three of their last four home matches and are unbeaten in seven.
Accrington climbed to 20th, one place out of the relegation zone, following their 2-1 home victory over 10-man Forest Green Rovers on Saturday and are currently unbeaten in three, having defeated Shrewsbury 1-0 at the Wham Stadium prior to a 0-0 stalemate at Burton.
Despite the Lancastrians' battle for their League One future, McKenna knows that Accrington are never easy opponents, Town having come from behind to win 2-1 in last season’s corresponding fixture.
"We had a really tough game here last year, I remember it well,” the Blues manager said following Saturday’s win against the Brewers.
"[Ethan] Hamilton cracked in a great strike from outside the box, like he can do, and it was really tough to break them down and we had to be really diligent to score the goals late.
"Quite similar in the away game this year [which Town won 2-0], a really hard-fought game. We had to stay patient and got the goals late.
"They’re fighting for their lives for one thing and we’re fighting for another thing and we’re looking forward to having the game come around quickly, but we know it’s going to be another challenge as you saw against Burton.
"People will probably look at the scoreline and think it was a comfortable win, but a game can so easily go another way and you need to just keep being humble, respecting the opponent and focusing on delivering performances.
"They played Burton last week, so that was a fair part of our build-up for the Burton game. We’ve watched it more through a Burton lens but we’ll go back over that game and their game today and their previous games to make sure we’re ready for Tuesday.”
With another big game at Bolton following at the weekend, McKenna says he’ll weigh-up utilising his squad.
"I think we’ll have to look at it,” he said. "It’s a three-game week, we’re putting big physical effort into the games and we’ve got a big away game on Saturday.
"I’ve got full trust in the squad, we’re not going to make 11 changes but I’ve got full trust in everyone who’s in the squad at the moment to go out and deliver a performance for us.
"I’ve got no worries whichever team we put out that it’ll be competitive and hungry and ready to deliver what we need to do to get the win.”
Christian Walton will continue in goal with McKenna also likely to stick with defenders Harry Clarke, Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess.
Leif Davis suffered a knock on Saturday, as did one or two others, but McKenna was hopeful the former Leeds man would be able to take up his usual wide left role. However, if there are any concerns, Greg Leigh will return to the side.
Wes Burns will probably be on the right flank, unless it's felt the Welshman needs a rest, in which case Kayden Jackson will come into the team against his old club.
Skipper Sam Morsy will be in the middle, probably joined by Cameron Humphreys with Massimo Luongo, who made his first senior start since May on Saturday, probably not considered ready to begin another game so soon, particularly with the Bolton match at the weekend.
McKenna may also be considering resting one or both of his number 10s from the weekend, 19-goal top scorer Conor Chaplin and Nathan Broadhead, who has scored three in three at home, with Marcus Harness, Kyle Edwards and Sone Aluko all alternative options.
Up front, George Hirst seems likely to come into the side for 16-goal second-top scorer Freddie Ladapo.
Stanley manager John Coleman says his side tends to play well at Portman Road.
"We have generally performed quite well at Ipswich if we haven’t got the results,” he told his club's official website.
"We have got to go with a game plan, try and stick to it and react to their threats and pose some ourselves.
"We have performed well on the road in certain parts of the season but not really got what we deserved. Every game is a battle and a scrap and tomorrow will be no different.
"Burton played Ipswich on Saturday and Burton were well in the game and then it was undone in a ten minute spell. We have got to take heart that Burton competed with them and we have got to compete them.
"We have to ask them questions, there is no point going there with our hands up, to sit on the ropes and get battered for 90 minutes, we have got to go out there and pose some problems ourselves.
"The key is hard work and you have got to compete with them for every first and second ball, in our set plays we have got to be compact defensively but we also have try and find a way of scoring from ours, which we did on Saturday.”
Away from home in League One this season, Accrington have won three, drawn five and lost eight with their last victory on the road at Cambridge in November.
Only three sides in League One have scored fewer than Stanley’s overall total of 28 goals and away from home their nine goals from 15 games is lower than anyone in the division.
Seven sides have conceded more than the 48 they have shipped overall, 24 of those on the road, the joint-13th most away from home.
The teams have only previously met eight times in their history, all in the last five seasons with the Blues winning five and Stanley three, all in the league aside from the Lancastrians' 1-0 FA Cup third round win at the Wham Stadium in January 2019.
In Lancashire in September, sub Chaplin netted twice in the second half to see Town to a 2-0 win away against previously unbeaten Stanley and back to the top of League One.
The Blues, who won their first four away games at the start of a season for the first time in their history, went in front in the 76th minute of a hard-fought encounter when Chaplin turned home a Lee Evans corner on the volley, then the forward added the second with a deflected strike three minutes from the end.
The teams last met at Portman Road in January last year when Burns and Chaplin were on target as Town came from a goal down to win 2-1.
Hamilton gave the visitors the lead on 15 but Burns hit back from a sublime Bersant Celina pass eight minutes later and Chaplin smashed home the winner in the 65th minute.
Later, Blues captain Morsy was suspended for four games by an FA Independent Regulatory Commission for a clash with Hamilton which had been highlighted on social media by Accrington chairman Andy Holt.
Centre-half Burgess joined the Blues from Accrington for £750,000 in August 2021 having spent one season with Stanley, making 50 starts and two sub appearances, scoring six times.
Defender Janoi Donacien moved to Town for £750,000 in the summer of 2018, while striker Jackson joined the Blues from Accrington for £1.6 million during the same close season. Both were members of Stanley’s 2017/18 League Two title-winning side.
Tuesday’s referee is Lee Swabey from Devon, who has shown 103 yellow cards and three red in 26 games so far this season.
Swabey’s last Town game was the 1-0 home victory over Derby County in October in which he cautioned Morsy, Woolfenden and two Rams.
He was also the man in the middle for the 2-0 win at AFC Wimbledon in January last year in which George Edmundson was yellow-carded and Kane Vincent-Young was sent off for two bookable offences in the final minute.
Before that, he was in charge of the 4-1 win at Wycombe in November 2021 in which he booked Toto Nsiala, Bersant Celina, for taking his shirt off while celebrating his final-seconds goal, and two home players.
He was also in control of the 0-0 draw at Shrewsbury in April in which he booked James Norwood, Woolfenden and one home player.
Prior to that he was the whistler during the 3-0 home defeat to Hull City in November 2020 in which he booked only Jackson.
His was also in the middle for the 1-0 victory over Lincoln at Portman Road in February 2020 in which he yellow-carded Woolfenden, Flynn Downes, Emyr Huw and two Imps.
Swabey's only other Blues game was another 1-0 win, away against the MK Dons in September 2019, in which he again booked Downes and Huws, and one home player.
Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Clarke, Donacien, Woolfenden, Keogh, Burgess, Edmundson, Burns, Vincent-Young, Davis, Leigh, Morsy, Humphreys, Luongo, Edwards, Chaplin, Harness, Aluko, Broadhead, Ladapo, Hirst, Jackson.