Saturday’s opening goalscorer Callum Connolly says the Blues are taking things game by game and are enjoying their football, the 2-0 victory over Reading having taken them up to eighth in the table only two points off the play-offs.

The 20-year-old, who is on loan from Everton for the season, netted his third goal in four games in the third minute - his previous strikes also having been early, coming in the fifth and seventh minutes - to set the Blues on their way to the win. He dedicated his strike to Town's academy kitman and training ground caretaker Dick Parker, who died last weekend.

“We are training as normal and just focusing on the next game, we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Connolly reflected afterwards.

“That first five minutes summed up our performance. We frustrated them and showed we are hard to play against. “We are taking things game by game and enjoying our football. The wins are a bonus.”

Town’s top scorer Martyn Waghorn, who has netted 10 times since joining the Blues from Rangers for a bargain £250,000 in August, has played a part in all three of Connolly’s goals.

It was his corner that the England U20 international headed home at Derby and it was his strike from a freekick which Nottingham Forest keeper Jordan Smith spilled which Connolly gleefully smashed into the net a few days later.

⚽️ | He started the move and finished it!

Watch as @Callum1connolly made it three goals in four games for Town yesterday afternoon #itfc pic.twitter.com/vpT6efCuvI– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) December 17, 2017

Waghorn, who tops the Town assists table with five, also played a part in Saturday’s second goal, Adam Webster flicking on his right-sided corner for Joe Garner to head home.

“I have a good relationship with Waggy,” Connolly said. “I thought from start to finish we were very good.

“Martyn has helped me loads, as he has done other players and he has scored loads himself — he is a great player, and he is a good lad as well.”

Connolly came to Town regarded primarily as a right-back but he has cemented his place in the side in the centre of midfield alongside Cole Skuse, who he says has helped him a lot since he came to the club.

“I have developed a good relationship with Skusey on and off the pitch,” he added. “He has been in the game many years and has given me a lot of advice.”

Speaking on Thursday, Skuse was equally enthusiastic about his central midfield partner, although he had one criticism: “I’ve told him umpteen times to get his hair cut. That fringe is horrendous — but other than that he’s a joy.”

However, Connolly says he has no plans to pay heed to senior pro Skuse’s advice on that front.

“Let me tell you this — it works. I’m not changing it,” he laughed. “It works with the girls, so I’ll take that. It also works with the goals, so I’m keeping it.

“I’m making my own tradition, I don’t follow the crowd and get a big flick over.”

Following the game the squad travelled to London for their Christmas party, although with things not having gone entirely to plan post-match.

“We had to have cold showers and a cold bath,” he said. “But it’s all about ice baths anyway ready for the next game.”

Despite that, Connolly says he’s thoroughly enjoying life at Town: “I love it here and just feel I’m playing well and enjoying my football.

“I feel I’m improving under a great manager and great players and just developing as a player.

“I’m enjoying playing in midfield and hopefully we can help push up the league.”

Looking ahead to the Christmas period with games coming thick and fast, he says his family are going to travel down from his native Merseyside.

“I’m staying down here for Christmas,” he continued. “My family will come down, so this year I will just have to put it behind me. They will be having roast dinner, I will be on salmon and rice — happy days.”

The appointment of Sam Allardyce as Everton boss has seen an upturn in form at his parent club, who are unbeaten in five all competitions, winning four.

“It is for the best, with a new manager it is going well,” Connolly added. “I have not had any contact but hopefully if I keep getting games, keep scoring goals and perform well he will see me and things might change for me there when I get back.”

Reading midfielder Joey van den Berg felt his side gave the Blues two soft goals and was highly critical of referee Peter Bankes.

“If we continue to concede goals like this then we can play until Christmas next year and we won’t win a game,” the Dutchman, who once had a trial with Town, said.

“They only had two real attacks and scored, we can only blame ourselves for that.

“We created loads in the first half but were a bit sloppy. We made the mistake in the second half of playing their game.

“There was fighting and interruptions so they took their time and we never pressured them with the ball.

“The referee was probably the worst we have had this season but that is not what killed us. He is not a bad man but he made some terrible decisions. The two goals killed us and that is frustrating."

He added: “We have done well away and this was an opportunity to move up and the top six would not have even far away.

“We can only blame ourselves, our biggest opponent was ourselves. We know what we are doing wrong but we can’t control it. If I knew how to manage it, then it would be solved.

“It is an important period ahead and we can make big steps but we have to look at other teams. Luckily we have plenty of games in short time.”

Meanwhile, Town's U23s are in action against Coventry City at Playford Road this afternoon (KO 1pm).

Photos: TWTD/Action Images

amy73 added 06:36 - Dec 18 Not quite sure what the ref did wrong. But have to agree with Stam, we were lucky. Reading dominated the game for the most part and will feel unlucky to have lost.
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Cakeman added 06:48 - Dec 18 Connolly has certainly settled well after a slow start. Also not sure what the ref did wrong as I thought he controlled the game well. It was refreshing to see a ref clamp down on backchat with a yellow card . If more refs did that early in the game the players would then stop behaving like spoilt brats.
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Mark added 07:54 - Dec 18 We have so many good characters in the squad now, honest players who care about the results and are clearly really enjoying their time here. Let's see where it will take us, but the season is very enjoyable so far. I always think it is a little odd when a parent club do not make any contact with a player out on loan, you'd think someone would pick up the phone to ask how they are getting on. Don't put up with it Connolly, leave Everton for Ipswich this summer! :)

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meekreech added 08:09 - Dec 18 The referee failed to follow the instructions on use of the elbow. Garner was elbowed by mcshane and should have been sent off, but the referee only booked him. Also the left back was about to be booked in the second half when the referee remembered that he had already been booked and changed his mind !
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muccletonjoe added 08:52 - Dec 18 They can bleat on about having all the pocession and controlling the game. The scummers do that every week, but the bottom line is they lost and we won. That is ultimately all that counts. The way young connolly won the ball back in his own half and went on to score is typical of our approach at the moment and the reason why we go into christmas 2points away from top 6.

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dirtyboy added 09:08 - Dec 18 I'd like to see us retain the ball more, but to be honest, we seem to be comfortable letting teams like Reading and Derby have the ball as much as they like in their own half, and i'm fine with that. When we've had the ball, we've done it with intent and at the right times and we look dangerous. 2 points off at roughly the half way point. Scoring goals (from plenty of places) Webster looks like he's getting better, so I think defensively we'll start to improve too. Starting to feel confident about pushing for a place in the Playoffs at the end of the season, but it'll be very hard. Wolves, Cardiff, Bristol and Derby do look very consistent, all score but all are very tight at the back. Villa, Leeds, PNW, 'boro and us all fighting for a couple of spaces, plus Sheff Utd and Fulham if they sort their inconsistency out)

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runningout added 09:30 - Dec 18 Agree we were fortunate v Reading. With a more ruthless streak, our team can go far
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ajs83 added 10:02 - Dec 18 Joey van den Berg should watch a DVD of our game against Bristol City and see what he thought of the referee in that game. Always makes me laugh when the opposition moans about the referee. Also Jonas Knudsen has the most assists with six.
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osborne1nil added 11:09 - Dec 18 Personally I thought Town got the result they deserved. Having lots of possession is one thing but being able to do something with it is another. Reading may have had more possession than Town but they hardly tested Bart the whole game. Ipswich broke away several times and could of had several more goals. The players were up for this game and unlike many games where Town are leading, I didn't feel they were about to throw this away. Well done Ipswich and to be fair MM too.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 12:04 - Dec 18 I don't mind the other side having possession if most of what they do with it is endlessly pass the ball back and forth to each other horizontally somewhere around the centre line. Reading were very ineffective. I was worried at half time that we would get a beating 2nd half, but in the end Reading could have played all week and still not looked like scoring. So I don't think we were fortunate in this match. Deserved victory!

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cat added 13:23 - Dec 18 How anyone can say we deserved to win on the back of 27.7% possession and a pass rate of 25% against Readings 75% ‘AT HOME' is laughable to say the least. What you should be saying is we took our chances and ‘mugged' a win. Saturdays game was palatable only because we won, losing or drawing with them stats is not acceptable from an entertainment perspective. Mick said on Friday, “this is the way I play and have done so since i arrived here” them long 5 years ago, so expect nothing different. As we are winning in the region of 50% of our matches, then this system/style simply ain't good enough for me. I like my football to be played properly, not stifle the opposition & be hard to beat like McCarthy does. This season imo is a bonus one for Mick, he should have gone at the end of the last campaign, there have been improvements due largely with the players he signed, so fair play to him on that one, but are we going to be continually bored whilst his here???? my answer to that is yes, unless of course we were to win every game and mask the horrid tactics & hard to beat mentality he swears by. Bottom line is - McCarthy brand of football is ‘HARD TO WATCH' unless of course you don't care about the lack of entertainment side of things, or it's simply all about the winning, funnily enough, if it's the latter then the question is, are you supporting the right club.

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itsonlyme added 15:57 - Dec 18 We were not 'lucky' to win. Reading hardly threatened our goal and our counter attacking was excellent. I am nowhere near a McCarthy man and hope he leaves in the summer, but the football is a lot better than it has been and a win is a win is a win whether we have 10% or 90% possession.
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armchaircritic59 added 17:43 - Dec 18 Wise old saying. "It's not about the amount of possession you have, it's what you do with it when you have it that counts". I say that as a big fan of passing, possession based football (always have been and always will be). However, it has to be the means to an end, and not the end itself!
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Slambo added 18:32 - Dec 18 Cat - absolute drivel. Thankfully most other people on here think the same. As for Joey van den Berg, your team didn't have a shot on goal for the first hour buh. You can pass it around all you want, but you won't score if you don't shoot..! I actually thoroughly enjoyed the game on Saturday. We looked like scoring every time we went forward. Scored with only two attacks..?! How about that marauding run forward from Spence? That well worked free-kick between Celina and Waghorn? Celina's jinking run into the box..? We could have had 4 or 5..! I think McCarthy's tenure probably has run its course, but credit where credit's due. He's clearly changed his ways (at least in footballing terms): 26 of our 37 goals have come from new signings and I can personally count 6 times this season already where i've been genuinely riveted by our performance. I'm willing to forgive and forget - wish some of our fans would do the same...

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ITFCsince73 added 20:04 - Dec 18 Well in Slambo.
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cat added 20:15 - Dec 18 Slambo - “absolute drivel” Mmmmm, easy to say on the back of a win. I doubt if “most posters”(lol) who travelled up to Middlesbrough or Villa (inc myself) or with most of the other games (exception Leeds) in which we have been beat would agree, and that's my point. Possession stats of 20-30% on the back of a draw, more so a loss, would not suggest a game worth watching. I'd take a win over entertainment to get promotion anytime, unfortunately in reality we won't win every time and it's been years since promotion, so entertainment should be a massive factor to counter those issues or them attendances will continue to fall.

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WestSussexBlue added 20:34 - Dec 18 All this talk of possession stats, it's not what you do when your in possession it's all about what you do when you don't have possession. Town are very good at working hard for each other and winning the ball, add that to a frontline that scores well and Bingo. It seems Reading base themselves on possession football but aren't very good at the other side of the game.

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ITFCsince73 added 20:51 - Dec 18 Cat, Readings possession was so high, because of the football played between there keeper and defenders. And overall Town looked the far better team, regardless of all the possession stats. All Readings "dominance" was achieved between there own box and halfwayline. Final score shows that got them knowere. Luckily we don't have Villa and Boro away every week.
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bobble added 22:01 - Dec 18 we are 16 pts from the top, nothing to be proud of....we need a good run over xmas to get up top..
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BobbyBell added 09:52 - Dec 19 This week I expect us to sit back against the league leaders and frustrate them We have the players to take chances if we get any so anything is possible. They will get chances and we have to hope they only get one or two and they miss them. Anything from Wolves away would be a bonus. I do however take issue with us parking the bus at home when we are 2-0 up. That baffles me especially as we have such a goal threat.

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