Ipswich Town’s recent resurgence faces a big test this evening when second-placed Middlesbrough visit Portman Road for a live Sky game (Sky Sports One,from 7pm, KO 7.45pm).

The Blues are unbeaten in six games having got back to form after a spell in which they won just once in 10 league matches.

Manager Mick McCarthy says the mood around the squad is very upbeat having won three and drawn one of their last four matches.

“There’s generally a good feel in the squad but it’s better when you’re winning games,” he said. “It’s been a lot easier coming into work and training and around the place and around the town, everywhere.

“It’s just a better feeling when the team’s winning. We’ve won and we’ve played well. But I would just temper that with the fact that we beat Bolton here, we beat Rotherham away, we beat Charlton.

“I’m not suggesting they were easy because when we were in the bottom three and I arrived here we slapped a good few teams, so it’s not easy playing those.

“You’ve got to beat them, and we drew with Wolves and I think we should have won that. But we’re playing different opposition [this evening], we’re playing Middlesbrough, who are a very, very good side and they’ll be one of the teams for promotion, I think.”

He says he relishes the prospect of taking on one of the division’s pacesetters, who were defeated in last season's play-off final.

“Strangely it’s sometimes better and easier playing the games when you’re not just expected to turn up and win,” he added. “Although the support that we had here against Bolton when we’d just had a few draws was magnificent.

“They didn’t just sit back and say ‘Go on then, win the game’, they inspired us to win that game, that was fabulous.

“But nevertheless it’s still more nervy when you walk out on to the pitch as a player or as a manager when you’re expected to win.

“This is a different game. People will be turning up hoping we’ll win and hoping we play well, but it’ll be a tough game this, they’re a good side.”

The Teessiders were last in action as recently as Tuesday when they were beaten 2-0 at home by Everton in a Capital One Cup quarter-final.

Although manager Aitor Karanka made six changes - including resting Blues nemesis David Nugent - McCarthy says that could work in Town’s favour.

“Only time will tell after the game whether we can sit here and say it was a great time to play them,” he said.

“But the reality is that it is a good time to play them. We’ve been playing well, we’ve been on a good run of form, they’ve had a game on Tuesday night, they’ve got to travel down to us. But whether that will have any bearing on it or give us an advantage only time will tell.

“But in terms of how we’re playing and the confidence that we’re showing at the moment, I’m happy to play anybody.”

He says Tuesday’s game was a tough one for the Teessiders: “I watched them the other night against Everton, although that wasn’t a true reflection. I thought from Everton it was a really good, professional Premier League performance, they kept the ball.

“They made six changes. People asked me about my team playing in the Capital One Cup [at Manchester United] when we had Bristol City coming here.

“That was a quarter-final and they made six changes because they’re coming here on Friday night, so maybe it shows the importance of the league games.”

Having been criticised for the much-changed team he fielded at Old Trafford, McCarthy noted that his Boro counterpart had similar priorities on Tuesday, despite being two rounds nearer to a Wembley final.

“I was asked a question at the Supporters Club AGM, ‘Did I regret changing the team for Manchester United?’ and I said no, but I regret not beating Bristol City.

“It just shows you, that was a quarter-final. Playing Tuesday and Friday is a tough ask for them, travelling down.

“He has got a good squad of players so he’s making the most of it with one eye on the league game. Premier League football will give you £120 million apparently and a cup semi-final won’t.”

McCarthy seems likely to stick with the team that beat Charlton so comprehensively last week.

Dean Gerken will continue in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Jonas Knudsen on the left and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra in the centre.

In the middle of midfield, Cole Skuse will again be partnered by Jonathan Douglas. Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Freddie Sears will be on the right and left respectively if the Town boss opts for a 4-4-2 formation with the ex-Colchester man joining Daryl Murphy and Brett Pitman up front if he starts with a 4-3-3 system.

“It’s a tough place to go,” Boro boss Karanka said of Portman Road at his pre-match press conference. “We lost last season and they’ve had all week to prepare.

“But we have a good squad, we made six changes on Tuesday and we’ll check who the best players are to play tomorrow.

“It’s an interesting team as they’ve scored a lot of goals and have good players up front especially.

“The pitch isn’t big to play on but we have to learn from what happened last season. We have a lot of players who played there last season, but when we played them at home we beat them 4-1.”

Karanka confirmed that he was amongst the Championship managers interested in Daryl Murphy in the summer with Boro understood to have offered £4.5 million for the Irishman.

“We were thinking about him in the summer because he is a really good player," the Spaniard said.

“Our target was to get promotion, and to try to sign the best possible players for the right amount of money to help us do that. Daryl was on that list because he scored 27 goals last season.

“He is a player I like a lot because he works a lot, his movement is excellent and he has a powerful shot from outside the box. He can be really, really dangerous.”

Regarding Town, he added: “It’s a team that plays long balls up the pitch, they’re strong with strong forwards Murphy and Pitman, and have strong defenders.

“I expect a physical game but if we want to try to compete physically with them, we’ll lose, as they’re stronger than us. So we have to play in our style and stop them from playing in their style.”

Boro have defender Tomas Kalas back from a knee injury, while former Town skipper Grant Leadbitter is available having missed last week’s 2-0 win at Huddersfield due to a one-match ban after amassing five bookings.

Rhys Williams (achilles), Alex Baptiste (broken leg) and Damia Abella (knee) are long-term absentees.

Leadbitter joined the Teessiders on a Bosman transfer in the summer of 2012 after leaving Portman Road.

Middlesbrough striker David Nugent has scored 14 goals in 13 games against the Blues during his career and has netted every time he has played at Portman Road - nine in seven matches - for Preston, Portsmouth, Leicester and England’s U21s in a game against Moldova in 2006.

The Blues have had the better of Middlesbrough over the years, winning 30 games (28 in the league), drawing 14 (14) and losing 19 (18).

The Teessiders last won at Portman Road in the Premier League in March 1993 when Paul Wilkinson’s header 10 minutes before the break gave the visitors a 1-0 victory.

The teams most recently met at the Riverside in March when Boro won 4-1 to leave Town’s hopes of winning automatic promotion hanging by a thread.

The Teessiders went in front through Daniel Ayala in the fourth minute in an incident which saw Blues keeper Dean Gerken stretchered off.

Daryl Murphy equalised with his 23rd goal of the season on 11 but Albert Adomah restored the home side’s lead on the half hour, before on-loan Chelsea frontman Patrick Bamford sealed the victory after the break with goals on 64 and 79.

Five days before last Christmas at Portman Road, first-half goals from Daryl Murphy and Jay Tabb saw the Blues to an impressive 2-0 victory over Boro to return to second in the Championship.

Murphy netted a rebound from close range in the 25th minute and Tabb beat two defenders to head home the second deep into first-half injury time.

Prior to kick-off local charity Talitha Koum will be holding a collection around the ground.

Tonight’s referee is Tim Robinson from West Sussex, who has shown 70 yellow cards and one red in 18 games so far this season. This evening's match will be only his 12th at Championship level.

"Robinson’s only previous Town game was the pre-season friendly at Crawley in the summer of 2013 in which he awarded the Blues a penalty, which was converted by David McGoldrick in a 2-1 victory.

Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Parr, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Robinson, Skuse, Douglas, Coke, Tabb, McDonnell, Maitland-Niles, Oar, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, McGoldrick.

Photo: Action Images

beornioblue added 07:29 - Dec 4 COYB ... Nothing else to say really , have faith in the boys sterner test tonight , my view is if we can do boro tonight still missing key players,then I have optimism for the rest of the season. My heart says 2-1 town my head says 2-2.
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Jimmy86 added 09:26 - Dec 4 And the reason Gerken got stretchered off, which is the logic Mick uses to justify his blind faith in him, when clearly Bart should have been back in when ready after the loss of his father, was because he came off his line too half hearted and was clattered... There lies Gerken's biggest problem. Yea he's a good shot stopper, but at this level you'd expect him to be and it's what he's paid to do. The fact, backed up with stats, is that we concede less goals with Bart in goal. Hoping for 3 points tonight as Boro doesn't have a great record at PR. Hope Berra and Smith keep Nugent quiet, like they managed to do with Afobe for most of the game against wolves

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Kesgraveblue57 added 10:04 - Dec 4 We are in with a chance of winning tonight due to the fact Middlesborough were playing Tuesday night and having to travel all the way down to Ipswich don't kid yourself that this is a good Ipswich team
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Surco72 added 10:30 - Dec 4 Biggest concern for tonight are the miss matches out wide with Downing and Adomah against Chambo and Knudsen , fear there may be a lot of balls coming into the box for Nugent lets hope Berra is on it tonight
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jas0999 added 11:23 - Dec 4 Indeed this is a tough test and certainly a step up from Rotherham, Charlton and Bolton. However, this is a home game against a team who we have an excellent record against at PR. We should be looking to win it. We can score, more than one in fact. The critical question, is whether our defence is good enough to cope against their attacking threat.
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commuterblue added 13:37 - Dec 4 surprisingly open comments from Karanka, I thought.
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Keaneish added 15:02 - Dec 4 I think Sears and Niles energy and back tracking should keep them quiet Surco. Confident of a win tonight. Not quite sure what point you're trying to make thereabout Mick or Gerken Jimmy86...
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AYACCA added 15:35 - Dec 4 we're gonna win 4 nil
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Jimmy86 added 15:50 - Dec 4 Keanish, the point I'm making is the reason Gerken got stretchered off against Boro away last season was coz he got injured as a result of him not coming off his line quickly or committed enough. He got clattered as a result. When Mick is asked about the 2 keepers, he responds by stating both keepers lost their places due to unforseen circumstances. Bart, who let's be honest, is the better keeper, lost his place because his dad passed away, Gerks lost his place, due to be stretchered off against Boro, which was partly down to his hesitance. My point is Mick uses that as his excuse to stick with him, even though we concede more goals with him in the side than Bart.

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unknown100 added 16:07 - Dec 4 Bit of a season inclin, win.... Perhaps promotion contenders, lose... Probably aren't
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Keaneish added 16:34 - Dec 4 Mick doesn't use it as an excuse, he clearly thinks Gerken is a better keeper which is why he's stuck by him. I've seen a few folk on her refer to those stats about us conceding less goals but the fact is, those stats can be spun however you like to support your argument, that's the beauty of stats. The whole side may not have been defending as well to concede more goals for example. Bart lost his place after he suffered a family bereavement. I too wouldn't be playing for quite a few games if I suffered the same loss but after being out, Gerken clearly did something to convince Mick he was his number one. It's unfortunate for Bart but those are the margins in professional football. This topic became tired a while ago though. Gerken's played relatively well over the last 5 games so credit where credit's due I reckon.

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Jimmy86 added 16:41 - Dec 4 Well yea, but Bart is the better keeper... Yea he has made some good saves, but that's only part of being a keeper!!! Communication with the back 4, commanding the area and distribution is all part of it and all areas Gerken is weaker in than Bart.... if Mick or anyone thinks Gerken is better then look at the stats... Bart was playing well before he lost his place and should have been back in when he was mentally ready to be. He is the better keeper

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sidtheswan added 18:22 - Dec 4 We all prefer Bart & MM prefers Deano so we'll just have to live with it . Having said that thought Deano had one of his better games last time out with one outstanding save which could have prevented a late charge from Charlton . Heart says win tonight head says draw with Nugent amongst the scorers . COYB !
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sidtheswan added 18:38 - Dec 4 PS why don't they let us in a he ground early anymore ? ? ?
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