Boss Jim Magilton praised his players' character after Town came from behind to beat Bristol City 3-1 at Portman Road. Jon Walters, Pablo Couñago and City's Liam Fontaine netted for the Blues in the second half after Stern John had put the visitors in front early on.

Magilton said: "We showed great character after going a goal down. We knew we had to lift the crowd.

"I can't fault the players. I thought they showed tremendous character, especially after going down so early and we could have been back in the game before the break, their keeper made two or three great saves.

"It was a case of just reaffirming that belief at half-time, keeping the confidence high.

"I knew that if we played in the manner in which we ended the first half we could go on and score, which we did. It was all about the result tonight."

The Town boss said he hadn't seen the incident which led to Alex Bruce's second red card of the season: "The referee seemed to be in a good position. If Alex has left the ground, he deserved to go.

"Alex is a whole-hearted footballer but I don't think he goes into a tackle maliciously. It comes at a bad time for him because he has been absolutely outstanding."

It's possible, although unlikely, that Bruce might have played his last game for the Blues, his four-match ban (three for serious foul play and one more for it being his second red card of the season) meaning he will be unavailable until the FA Cup third round tie against Chesterfield or Droylsden on January 3rd once the transfer window is open.

Bristol City boss Gary Johnson was happy with the way his side began the game, but less pleased with their performance after that: "We started well enough. After 20 minutes, Ipswich came back into the game. Our keeper kept us in it.

"I was pleased with the way we started but that was it. They were just very poor after half-time.

"I would like to be able to say it was something I said and it was my fault but it wasn't.

"The quality showed during that 10 or 15 minutes. It's very poor to let in three goals in the space of seven minutes. It's poor defending. All three goals were poor defending. It was a poor day."

Johnson was more concerned with his team's disappointing display than Alex Bruce's tackle on Nicky Maynard: "I was raging at my players, I haven't got the energy to rage at theirs as well. The lad had stud marks all up his shin. It was a heavy challenge."

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