Blues boss Paul Jewell said his side was indebted to keeper Arran Lee-Barrett during their ground out 1-0 victory over his former club Derby at Portman Road. Lee-Barrett, back in the team after David Stockdale’s return to Fulham, recorded Town’s first clean sheet in nine matches.

Jewell said: “It was a scrappy game. I think Derby edged it in the first half, they had the better chances and we were indebted to Arran to keep us in the game.

“In the second half, it was a battle, a scrappy game that we were delighted to get the three points from.”

The Town manager said he hadn’t had another look at his side’s goal but had been told the video evidence showed it was over the line: “We don’t get a great view but I actually thought it looked quite deep over the line and the players tell me it was over the line.

“How long it took to give the goal is probably what Derby are annoyed about, and I can understand that.

“Apparently the linesman ran to the halfway line, but if he’d just stuck his flag up there would have been no confusion. People who have seen the DVD tell me it was over the line.”

Jewell was pleased to see his side net immediately after the break for the second week running: “We started well in the second half last week and did the same this week. After that it was a scrap, as it was in the Portsmouth game.

“There weren’t a plethora of chances in the second half, there were one or two, but other than that it was just a hard-fought 1-0.”

The Blues boss was pleased to see Keith Andrews score again and says Town are due to hold talks regarding the 31-year-old staying at Portman Road beyond his loan which is up after the Nottingham Forest game: “He’s scored nine goals, which is a terrific contribution from a midfield player.

“We’re delighted with him and we’ll be trying to keep him here beyond his loan period, but the more goals he scores, the more difficult it’s getting for us.

“He wants to stay and we’re going to try to keep him. His agent is meeting the owner on Monday.”

Jewell says Richard Wright is fit after his strained pec but didn’t want to take any risks with him: “Richard is fit but there was no way I could take a chance. Cody Cropper had a cartilage operation on Friday, so we needed Richard to be fit. Cody’s out for six weeks.”

Keeper Arran Lee-Barrett was pleased not to concede on his return to the side: "It's great to win the game and to keep a clean sheet is always an added bonus.

"I didn't have a great view of Keith's goal, but having seen the replay in the dressing room I think it was a definite goal.

"All the lads thought it was over the line and Keith and Michael [Chopra] certainly thought it was.

"We want to build on the confidence of the last two games and try and put a run together to push on up the league."

Derby manager Nigel Clough wasn’t sure whether the ball crossed the line but felt the officials should have made it clear it was a goal much more quickly: “I don’t know, we can’t see from where we are.

“Traditionally, if it goes over the line the linesman puts his flag up, that’s what we’ve always seen in 30-odd years of football.

“But there’s nothing we can do about it now, we’re disappointed with the way we defended it straight after half-time.

“All we can do is put it in the report, how poor we thought the officials were. That’s our only act of recourse.”

Clough was generally pleased with the way his team performed and felt they deserved a point: “We’re happy with the way we played, certainly the first half.

“We created some good chances away from home. Very similar to how we’ve been playing lately — good level of performance just not enough to keep a clean sheet and not enough for someone to get us a goal.”

Photo: Action Images

ITFCSparklepants added 18:02 - Dec 17 His three saves in ten seconds in the first half were quality.
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Mark added 18:04 - Dec 17 Yes, well done to Lee-Barrett, some great saves in the first half that kept us in the match. He deserves to keep his place after that. Overall, the game was a bit scrappy but it was hard fought and there were some good performances. After losing the ball we always made a good attempt to win it back, even Lee Martin. Murphy was good in the air, Scotland battled away particularly, and Sonko won some important headers at the end. Emmanuel-Thomas and Bullard looked bright when they came on, which was a bonus. It's nice to go into Christmas after two wins, so well done to the team. Merry Christmas Paul Jewell too, well done for sticking in there and turning it round.

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irishtim added 18:04 - Dec 17 Well done Mr lee barrett thank you.
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gifkins_itfc added 18:11 - Dec 17 well done a.l.barret u r ipswich one and i thinks scotland play a great game well done ipswich marry xmas jewell hope beat leiscters on boxing day
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bluelady added 18:11 - Dec 17 Surely no brainer for Andrews, sure to be made captain, guaranteed to start and scoring more goals then in his entire career??? If not its just the money sadly. Take my hat off to ALB, excellent saves keeps RW out of a starting place.... is he consistant though.....
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itfcsmithlarr added 18:11 - Dec 17 I thought Lee-Barrett was top class today, fully deserves all the praise he's getting.
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gifkins_itfc added 18:12 - Dec 17 and we play better without leadbitter
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legoman added 18:15 - Dec 17 Now and again a player comes along that you can build a good team around. That man is Andrews. I hope he has the sense to realise that he could have a fantastic three of four years of being a hero right here.
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leagueonescum added 18:16 - Dec 17 Top performace ALB! More importantly a clean sheet. Agree with Mark: in that the game was scrappy but we turned it our way in the end and that wasn't happening a fortnight ago. Keith Andrews, take a bow son. Keep faith in Jewell.
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algarvefan added 18:28 - Dec 17 Look lets pay good money and get Jordon Rhodes back b4 it's too late, he scored FOUR goals today and is on fire!!!!
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alexsmith111 added 18:29 - Dec 17 ALB saves the day! That will shut a few people up!!!
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Radlett_blue added 18:29 - Dec 17 Two more managers who don't know the laws. The linesman should signal a goal has been scored by sprinting backt owards the halfway line. If he puts his flag up, everyone will think he's seen an offence such as offside.
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SomershamBlue added 18:43 - Dec 17 Well done ALB - good performance. Not a great game, but much more confidence apparent in the team. Just got to keep it going....
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irishtim added 18:45 - Dec 17 Keep keith andrews build around him. Get rid of leadbitter priskin . See ronan murray scored again. bring him back in the ney year. Goodbye also to wabra has offered little in his brief apperances.
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irishtim added 18:48 - Dec 17 Oh merry christmas to all forum users & happy new year. Hopefully our beloved club can start there upward curve & keep us smiling through 2012
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Skippy93 added 18:57 - Dec 17 algarvefan why can't you focus on the players that are here at the club, the players that did well today and today's result, not to mention that you're completely off topic.
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StochesStotasBlewe added 19:03 - Dec 17 ALB, i doff my cap to you today, if you continue with that form, i will eat a large slice of humble pie, have thought you were not up to it, would love you to prove me wrong come the end of the season.
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TimmyH added 19:07 - Dec 17 Well done ALB - keep it up!!
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tok2000 added 19:10 - Dec 17 ALB should start ahead of wright he was simply top class today
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CornardBlue added 19:14 - Dec 17 Well played ALB apart from his saves thought his kicking was better than Stockdales, would give him run to end of season. The money we are going to save on Stockdale and Collins wages we should use to offer Andrews a package that is to good to turn down.
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SouperJim added 19:24 - Dec 17 ALB had a good game and well done PJ for publicly praising him and boosting his confidence. I've never doubted that Arran is a good shot stopper, it's the other areas of his game that I have doubts about, but if he can maintain that level of performance I will be as happy as the next man. On Keith Andrews, I guess you can ask for too much, but other than his fantastic goal return I don't think he's been that great for us. He was anonymous for large periods of the game today and I'd rather see us build a team around the likes of Bullard, who already has a contract here. Lee Martin was good today, yes he makes errors, but you notice him, he rarely goes missing like Andrews and Bowyer tend to, he gets on the ball time after time, tracks back and contests second balls etc. Fantastic to get another result, even from a scrappy performance. Recently we've played much better than we did today, yet ended up with nothing.

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London_Blue added 19:36 - Dec 17 I met Mark Kennedy at Liverpool st station today and spent fifteen minutes chatting to him about various team related topics. The most interesting being that Keith Andrews(his best mate) wants to stay with Ipswich and is less interested in a lucrative wage than playing regularly. He also said that it is well understood that there is a lack of twenty something players but PJ has struggled to attract them despite high offers. All players respect PJ and love paying for him. Mark was very open and almost felt compelled to tell me as much as he could in the short time that it took his wife, Mimi, to buy tickets for the train!

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s6blue added 19:37 - Dec 17 fair play ALB -- u done good
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London_Blue added 19:40 - Dec 17 Btw, ALB was different class, but as others have said, he wasn't tested at any set pieces today which is where he's been historically fragile.
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mschultz76 added 19:46 - Dec 17 Thought the team did well today. Not always good football but they played with heart. Fingers crossed Collins will be back. Sonko great today.
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