Despite Town having conceded a couple of uncharacteristically soft goals recently, Christophe Berra believes the Blues have one of the best defences in the Championship.

Perhaps most notably the opener in last week’s win over Sheffield Wednesday was down to a mix-up between Berra and goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski.

But Berra said: “I think we have one of the best defences in the league and also one of the best goals-for records in the league.

“Maybe there have been a couple of mistakes recently but we’ve won the games in which they occurred and they would have been highlighted a lot more if we had been beaten.

“At this stage of the season it’s about winning games. We might not always play well but at the same time there have been times when we’ve done well but not won the game.

“We’re coming up to the business time of the season and it’s about winning games, scoring goals, blocking the other team’s chances and basically picking up three points.

“We are just focusing on one game at a time because we all know that if you look ahead in this business you can get derailed. As soon as Saturday’s game against Reading game is over we will be looking at Birmingham on Tuesday.

“Every game between now and the end of the season is going to be tough because just about every team is fighting for something, whether it’s promotion, play-offs, getting away from the bottom end or actually escaping the bottom three.

“They all have something to play for, whereas with three or four games to go there might be some teams in mid-table who are already thinking of their summer holidays.

“It’s a busy schedule and some players can deal with it better than others. Our fitness coach, Andy Liddell, has a big part to play. After the Reading game we’ll be in on Sunday doing our cool-down and he’ll look after us.

“He will tell the manager how long he thinks training should be and if any of the players should step out after the warm-up. It’s all about managing yourself as well because the most important thing is to be ready for match day."

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls