Boss Roy Keane was delighted with Town’s 3-1 victory at Derby, hailing it the type of performance the Blues need to produce more often away from home, but was unhappy with the Rams’ late goal.

Keane said: "We made hard work of it as usual. We gave a shocking goal away but three goals away from home, we'll take that. I enjoyed the game, it was a good battle out there which I knew it would be.

"We are just focused on winning football matches and we've not done enough of that this year, but today was about rolling your sleeves up.

"These are the kind of performances we need. We are trying to change the mindset of what Ipswich is seen to be, particularly away from home where we are probably seen as a soft touch and we have got to change that.

"We need to start turning in performances like that on a regular basis if we are to progress.

"There was lots going on. Decisions to be made but going away from home and scoring three goals is something we have not done very often this season and it's very rewarding.

"Connor showed great maturity for his goal. It's been a good week for him, but I don't want to single out individuals because it was a good team performance."

After the game, referee Jonathan Moss confirmed that both Stephen Pearson and Derby boss Nigel Clough had been sent off for foul and abusive language. Clough admitted that he may have sworn at the official prior to being sent to the stand: "Quite possibly, yes.

"The referee asked me to repeat something. I did and I asked was he sending me off for that, and he wouldn't answer.

"He asked me to go, so I went and sat in the stand. He then asked me to move higher but the stand is the stand. It has to be something I said.

"I think it was for something [Stephen Pearson] said as well as he was walking away, but I don't think it was aimed at the referee.

"But we have missed a good opportunity to get another point or three on the board. Despite all the warnings before the game about not conceding early, we conceded after three minutes from a corner.

"That's the most disappointing thing, all the talking done in the last 48 hours, to stay unbeaten, that's the mentality we are still some way from instilling."

Photo: Action Images

Tillz9 added 13:02 - Apr 6 Good Easter period. 6 points , wickham signing and scoring as well. Still not enough for some people but I doubt it ever will be. Before you all start I know the first 15 games of this season were awful but surely it's time you all stopped banging on about keane going. He will still be in charge at the start of next season so maybe you should all stop moaning about it.
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KeanoBlindFaith added 13:03 - Apr 6 Okay, I will indulge you. I think a draw against Nottm Forest away is not too much to ask for. I expect a win against Doncaster and Sheffield United. Newcastle - no chance. So 7 points would be encouraging. What would be your estimation nobrain??
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PaulMariner added 13:05 - Apr 6 Is it Somersham? How so ?
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Tillz9 added 13:08 - Apr 6 A draw away at forest would be an excellent result , have they not won 12 and drawn 1 of there last 13 at home ?? But 7 points from those fixtures sounds a good return to be fair.
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KeanoBlindFaith added 13:08 - Apr 6 Mr Paul Mariner is correct. These last few wins have papered over some cracks.
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Tillz9 added 13:11 - Apr 6 He is not correct at all. I suppose you guys will never accept we had a horrendous start to the season but have made big improvements since. I suppose the last 28 games have been papering over the cracks to the season have they !!!
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KeanoBlindFaith added 13:13 - Apr 6 Tillz9 - if we can get seven points I will be realistic and I would be highly encouraged for next season. If we get a decent return I may start to be convinced that the beginning of the season was a transitional period but it was still pathetic given Keane is our manager and we gave him some good cash to spend. If Keane actually makes some decent signings close season I would hope that we can push on next season and get back to where we SHOULD be and not hanging around mid-table after a last minute surge against some teams whose players are already mentally booking their holidays.

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Thetruth added 13:19 - Apr 6 Word of advice read the mans Autobiography........... He has more drive and ambition to succeed then anyone, served under two of the all time great managers, both of whom believe in firmness, discipline which he has inherited. The problem is this season so many of these so called stars have let us the fans down. Some of the perfomances have been gutless, unispiring and those men are paid serious cash to do one job, train hard and play football. One thing there has not been enough of on here is critiscism of the players, and that makes me angry. I have seen enough points given away this season by the PLAYERS not the manager. People need to understand that many of these players will be going, they dont cut it in this league, dont have desire to win and are happy to take their money rather than play for our shirt! Love or hate Keane, this man deserves another season, he signed for 2 years and should be given 2 years, and I hope to god that he smashes it next year......!!! Chopping and changing your manager has never been the way to run a football club, QPR are a clear example and they are well and truly staring a relegation fight in the face. One other positive sign is that the 3 teams that come down from the Prem are not going to be in the position of Newcastle and WBA, next season is going to be a good one, i feel sure of that. Roll on Derby day........

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Tillz9 added 13:27 - Apr 6 I agree that the start of the season was pathetic. There is no way any fan can disagree with that point. I am hopeful however that we can push on next year. We do need a couple of quality additions to the squad and hopefully the signings won't be as hit and miss next year as priskin and martin have been big let downs for the money they cost.
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brogansnose added 13:34 - Apr 6 A very wellcome 6 points , which to honest i didnt dream of getting. This should be enough to keep us up and and to restore some confidence to the team. Now its time to kick on and prepare for next season because we dont want to start how we did this one.
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KeanoBlindFaith added 13:35 - Apr 6 To be honest Tillz9 - I will be glad when this season is over and watch some cricket for a while. Less stressful !!!!! But in signing off I just have to say that we NEED to get promoted soon. Every Premier League club is receiving 40m each just from TV revenues next year and Ipswich need to get up there and fast. The gap is getting bigger and even Hull who received all this revenue will be just about be buggered when they are relegated. They had to spend big just in order to compete in that league and we all know what happened to Portsmouth. We need a manager who can spend wisely, get a good team in place and be promoted and then keep us up. I just don't see Keane doing that but time will tell.

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moomoosereni added 13:40 - Apr 6 Long gone are the days where fans can just be disappointed with their team / manager. Now people have to go on a crusade, create pointless pictures and stomp their feet til they get what they want. I'm disappointed with how town have performed this season. Keane has made mistakes, mainly in selection. Having said that I also think that some of the players have let the club the fans and the manager down. Sure Keane has to take responsibility for that but From how the players celebrated with each other after the goals at Derby and at home to Reading, the ones who want to play for this club, seem to want to play for Keane too. There are the odd few that have been poor, and when Keane has the summer to change things around, they'll probably leave. Oh and sorry to disappoint a lot of you, but I'm almost certain Keane will stay so get used to it, like it or not.

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stinkiusminkius added 13:40 - Apr 6 Great result, and I must admit a little unexpected. And Im even thinking that maybe there has been some overall improvement and that Keane can do a job for us. Although im yet to be totally convinced (and lets face it, improving on our terrible start to the season wasnt hard). Im still not sure of some of his tactics, players in various/wrong positions, his lack of guidance from the touchline, his apparent alienation of certain players. But my main concern is doubts about what the transfer market will bring - he hasnt shown us that he has the widest scouting network out there, and in my opinion there have been more misses than successes. Plus I do fear for some of our more creative players being shown the door (eg Garvan, Pablo) plus D Wright. If Keane screws up over the summer and only lasts til Xmas then whoever comes in will be left with all his workhorses. But as its 99% likely that Keane will be here next year, then GO GO GO. I really hope my doubts are unfounded and he continues this improvement. (PS - Pro-Keaners, dont shoot me for having doubts and stating my opinion on here. Thank you).

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nobrain added 13:44 - Apr 6 KeanoBlindFaith - I agree 7 points from the remaining games would be a good return. I don't believe that, in itself, it would necessarily signify anything though.
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Fatboy added 13:45 - Apr 6 We have picked up 46 points from the last 28 games; a tally bettered only by Newcastle (65), West Brom (58) and Forest (49). Since at least two of those teams won't be in the Championship next season, there are no decent teams replacing them and Keane is likely to improve the team still further over the Summer, I see us as one of the favourites for promotion next season.

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MACKEMYANK added 13:49 - Apr 6 It's weird seeing some of these conversations on here which mirrored the feelings of some Sunderland fans a few years back. We also had the Keane fans and the anti-Keane fans also. The anti-Keane fans were in the minority as Keano got us promoted and kept us up. Then it all went wrong. To be honest, I don't think that any Sunderland fans would swap Steve Bruce for Keano now but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I just hope it works out for you Tractor boys. Looking forward to seeing you in the Premier - hopefully sooner rather than later.

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SomershamBlue added 13:52 - Apr 6 PaulMariner - I'd just be interested to know what constitutes 'papering over' in your view?
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PaulMariner added 13:59 - Apr 6 Somersham - you try to make something look or work better but only deal with superficial issues, not the real underlying problems. Obvious really.
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KeanoBlindFaith added 14:00 - Apr 6 I disagree no brain. Having some good results out of these last games would give some of us fans (anti-Keane or otherwise) a little encouragement after a pathetic season and the team some much needed belief to carry on over into next season. Beating Reading and Derby (although pleasing) in April is nothing. Like I said earlier, they have one eye on their summer holidays already. We need to be grinding out results against some of the top teams like Newcastle and Forest. Results against teams such as those are the yardstick that we should be measuring ourselves. But to be fair, our recent form has been very good and on our recent form we should do better next year. I don't want to cheer at a mid table finish, I want to see us in the top 6 next year and getting into the Premier League as soon as possible. If Keane pulls it off I will go out and buy a hat and then eat it. COYB.

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roytheboy added 14:01 - Apr 6 Roy Keane will be our Manager next season I'm sure, he was given two seasons to achieve the level of improvement required to regain Premiership status and despite a very poor start he is now showing what he is capable of, he has acknowledged on more than one occasion that he is on a learning curve as far as Football Management is concerned, I personally am very proud that he is Managing the club that I care about and look forward to next season when I expect us to have a very entertaining and successfull season led by Roy Keane, a Footballing Professional, who will have leaned a great deal from his time with us this season and yes, I very much stand by all of my previous postings, including the one I sent earlier today saying " Not such a bad Manager after all is he ! " even though it clearly irritated another so called "Supporter" ! we are all entitled to our opinions and these are mine.

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KeanoBlindFaith added 14:11 - Apr 6 roy the boy - you are entitled to your opinion and it is valid as anyone else's. However, I have mentioned in numerous posts why I do not rate Keano. I am interested to know why you rate him so highly. What has he accomplished in the last season that makes you satisfied? I am interested to know !!! Maybe I am missing something...........
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KeanoTheClown added 14:18 - Apr 6 'ello fans...i've been away for a few days at clown college learning how to wallpaper over the cracks...it's a bit tricky 'cos every time I lay the wallpaper out it rolls back up again at the other end...still,it's been great fun and should keep all my dimwit fans happy over the summer. (keanoblindfaith - you'll be pleased to know I have nothing to do with the budgies.....Norman Barratt's in charge of the budgies)

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KeanoBlindFaith added 14:22 - Apr 6 'ello Keano the Clown. Glad you are not a budgie. I could use some help in wallpapering that nice Mr Clegg's office. Just make sure that we don't wallpaper over him and see his outline under the paper or we will be looking for our P45 sharpish. By the way, Tony has got a job offer as a plate spinner. Should be fun.
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roytheboy added 14:28 - Apr 6 We all know that taking this season as a whole, we have achieved nothing, however, it's really all about what we expect next season, taking into account the obvious improvements that are clear for all to see, ie. the strong defensive back row, the signing of the very improved Connor Wickham, the improvement of Jamie Peters, we are starting to score a few goals (including two from corners !! in the last two games) I believe that Roy Keane's passion for our club, if fully supported by Marcus Evan's financial backing, will prove my points, have faith.

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KeanoBlindFaith added 14:28 - Apr 6 'ello fans - Roy here (no need to bow) I woke up this morning with a nasty red nose. Thought I had a cold but Tony pointed out I had left my red nose on from last night. More laughs next time fans.
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