Blues boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with his side’s 3-0 victory over Millwall but felt his team had to work harder for the three points than the scoreline suggests.

McCarthy said: “I’m delighted, I thought we deserved it in the end, to be honest. It was a good game. Hendo kept us in it a couple of times early on, so overall I'm really pleased.

“It wasn’t easy, not at all. The lads are knackered, they’ve worked hard, they’ve put a shift in and stopped a good side from playing.

“Teams only play how much you allow them to play and I thought our lads were terrific, they really worked hard and stopped them playing.”

The Blues boss brought striker Daryl Murphy back into his starting line-up and was pleased with the Irishman’s display: “He was terrific. He was outstanding. A bit of insecurity is great sometimes. Chambo got left out and he’s been excellent since he came back in.

“Murph got left out and he’s come on and made a difference in two games and I thought it was a really good performance today. That’s the beauty of having a squad all wanting to play and motivated, you get performances out of them.”

McCarthy, who also had praise for Guirane N’Daw, was pleased with the Senegalese international’s partner in midfield, who made an improvement after a disappointing display at Bolton.

"The biggest response for me was Andy Drury because I took him off last week because he had a poor game, no other reason," he said.

"I said that to him in the dressing room. But I thought he was night and day, I thought he was outstanding today.”

The Town manager gave Elliott Hewitt his Blues debut as a late sub and felt he did well: “Bradley Orr had a bit of a neural problem, a nerve in his neck, and he did well to do as long as he’d done. When Elliott came on he was great and got the crowd going. I was pleased with him.”

DJ Campbell once again grabbed many of the headlines, netting his seventh and eighth goals for the Blues in the 12th game of his loan spell.

McCarthy says he has now approached new QPR boss Harry Redknapp about signing the 31-year-old on a permanent basis: “I left him a message the other day, but I think Harry’s got plenty on.

“We can’t do anything about it, it will run its course. I would think there will be other people interested. He’s scoring goals, he wants to sign for a club permanently, we’d like to take him but circumstances will determine that.”

Millwall manager Kenny Jackett thought Chris Wood’s early disallowed goal ought to have counted: “We should have been a goal ahead, Wood’s goal from Lowry’s pass in the first half is clearly onside, having seen it again.

“We’ve gone in at the break 1-0 down. Their keeper’s made three very good saves and we’ve had an offside goal disallowed.

“We could have been one or two-up in that period, but that happens, we were 1-0 down.

“The start of the second half was poor for us, two poor goals took the game away from us then. We’d been defending very well.

“I felt that Murphy and Campbell were a handful for us and obviously one’s scored two goals and the other’s got one, so they made key contributions.

“They were a handful for us. Murphy in particular ran the channels, they put the ball over the top for him.

“The start of the second half was key for us because it obviously took the game away from us. We kept going, we kept battling but couldn’t quite find the breakthrough.”

Photo: Action Images

dommyboyblue added 21:33 - Dec 8 Brilliant. Have been able to watch motd two weeks in a row now. Who knew that two upfront would.work?
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chippyblue added 21:56 - Dec 8 I'm loving Saturday nights again " all thanks to a manager who knows how to play players in there right places " and 2 up front !! MM you are a top man with a football brain !!!!!! Loving it COYB
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kerryblue added 23:15 - Dec 8 Thanks for making being a Town fan a pleasure again,lets get up that table Micko
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zebra added 23:34 - Dec 8 Another great win. Another Saturday night without all the usual moaners and detractors writing their vitriol on here. Do you really hate us losing?? I can't explain, condone or accept all you negative people slipping into the background when we win. So you're not fans after all? Well, I never really thought you were in the first place. You're the losers you poor sad people. COYB

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zebra added 23:38 - Dec 8 Of course - meant to say 'do you really hate us WINNING'. Sorry for that - still celebrating the clean sheet fantastic win on Saturday!! Pour me another one please ... :-))
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Frase1987 added 23:48 - Dec 8 Ipswich are better than everybody.
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camblue added 23:58 - Dec 8 Thank you for making my weekend.
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R_LAMB3 added 00:28 - Dec 9 What i like about Mick he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and when asked about loan players going back or players contracts running out or future cup games coming up he dont want to talk about any of it and he is just thinking about the next game. He is a shrewd old fox and he knows that two or three bad results and we could be back where we were but i feel sure Mick wont let that happen. For sure he will try and sign the likes of Campbell NDaw Henderson and Orr on contracts in January and add some class players to the team to and everything should be coming up roses. Mick and terry will make ipswich great again and i have not felt this excited since thr Robson era. Come on you blues.

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bobble added 01:45 - Dec 9 mick is the master , he broke the dark lord and is going to take town up this year...what more proof do u need ?
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DiamondGezzer added 08:35 - Dec 9 Clean sheet, three goals and a bit of daylight between us and the following pack. If I can only win the lottery, then that's me settled for Christmas. Come to think of it, it feels like I've won the lottery already. Thanks to all concerned !
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BoxerBlue added 09:08 - Dec 9 Fight,commitment,heart pride that performance had it all very well done lads
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brockleyblueboy added 09:19 - Dec 9 Great great win. Delighted. And what a change to the atmosphere round Portman road? Positive vibes and you could feel the winning mentality. We HAVE to turn these loans into perms in January.
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BigAlwasmyhero added 09:27 - Dec 9 3 - 0 great result, not just sneaking it with a dodgy 1 nil! As far zebra's comments above. Sad that you feel that everyone registered on this site is not entitled to their own opinion Good or Bad, Positive or Negative. What a boring forum it would be if everyone just posted how fantastic and brilliant our club was.
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neillrumsey added 10:03 - Dec 9 Great result and sound performance. Credit to the defence today as they never looked in any danger. Tommy Smith deserves a big pat on the back as he was the pick of the bunch. MM has started to galvanize the team into a hard working unit .. Onwards and Upwards
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DutchTractorboy added 10:04 - Dec 9 I was fortunate enough to be at Portman Road yesterday, really enjoyed watching this one. I only get to see 3 or so matches live each season, not bad timing to pick this match! Bit lucky not to be 1 goal down after 20 minutes or so, but after that... Impressive. Dominating. Is this the team that was 4 points adrift at the bottom a couple of weeks ago? MM has worked wonders... Well done! On DJ Campbell, mr. Redknapp is keen on bringing Keane back from the US. Sure hope this improves chances of DJ staying at Town. -= ITFC4Ever=-

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choprawontcome added 11:34 - Dec 9
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hogster1970 added 12:03 - Dec 9 against forrest we smashed them off the pitch for at least 75-80 mins of that match, against milwall it took longer to break them down but we got there and then we looked slick and dangerous, thats had to go down MM and the boys all sticking together and working as a unit, i now feel anything other than a draw at leeds would be a let down as i feel we can go there and grab 3 points, there was some dodgy moments, and at one point when they had there goal dissalowed was some point ing and shouting between hendo chambers smith and orr, how ever they still pulled together and looked solid, like others i think smith is looking very good, but all players put in 100 % let this continue and can see us getting in mid table buy mid january, defo got to sign DJ as he cant stop scoring, the middle of the park however i dont know, i still feel we need that exciting playmaker who can split defences if we want to push for promotion in the future and if we get it, to stay there, because with out that person then it will be a struggle, who that person is i dont know, i would like to think hyam could be come a good playmaker, but he seems atm to be more of the fighter go getter type midfileder than the A@rse splitting defence splitting pass type of player that all teams needs, but on young hewitt he looked good even though he was on only for a few mins, so defo good prospect there. so on town lets bag another 3 points next week

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tractor57 added 12:20 - Dec 9 Brilliant! Keep it up boys... I see that bell end jewell is on ss1. What does he know about football!?
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barrysandals added 12:54 - Dec 9 Well done to MM and the boys. At last something to cheer about. Lets do everything we can to keep DJ at ITFC
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maninashed added 12:57 - Dec 9 Oh, where are the 'Clegg out' boo boys now?
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Wickets added 14:28 - Dec 9 What has happend to Clegg? dont hear from him now! has he been told to keep his mouth shut? 'cos thats the only way he can stop putting his foot in it.
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BillBlue added 16:48 - Dec 9 LennyBoy. What you say about the disallowed goal is most probably right because I see London24 are saying it was very much the right decision that it was disallowed so, in future, we all know how much attention to pay to Kenny Jacket's comments. COYB
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chippyblue added 16:56 - Dec 9 Talking to a QPR fan this morning and he said why is DJ still with us when they need a goal scorer !! Told him there not getting him back he's staying put ! But do feel its a matter of time before he's called back sorry to say " so come on Harry do the right thing and tell us how much you want for him !!!!
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town93 added 18:11 - Dec 9 Find it very sad how when we have a great result the amount of comments on this website decreases dramatically, was up over 200 when we were losing with PJ, and not even at 50 yet this time on a Sunday.
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chippyblue added 18:32 - Dec 9 Town93 ...... With you on this it's dead on here ,,
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