Town manager Joe Royle was understandably pleased with his side after their magnificent 3-0 defeat of Portsmouth. The Blues' boss singled out Tommy Miller as the player of the match but felt there were no underperformers in his team.

Royle said: "I didn't think we had a weak link in the side from one down to 11. The midfield four were outstanding and ran the show in the first half."

"We've got so many riches in midfield, we had to leave a player like Jermaine Wright on the bench. He'd make any other side in this division.

"The back four limited Portsmouth to one chance in the whole game and that's a terrific achievement.

"We defended properly today, as a team and as a unit. If we'd done that in our last home game against Nottingham Forest we'd be even closer to the top six."

"Up front, Pablo was fantastic and Marcus Bent has never worked harder for the side than he is at the moment."

"People will say Portsmouth might have eased up a bit because they've already got promoted, but quite honestly we could have scored three goals in the first half when we played down there in December."

"People keep trying to write us off but we use that to our advantage. We know we're capable of doing it - it's down to us."

Harry Redknapp admitted that his side were thoroughly bested in the day: “They played really well and are a terrific side. If they make the play-offs they'll probably go up.

"We weren't at our best today but I can't be too critical. The players have given me everything they've got this season but it's impossible to win every game.

"Ipswich have got some fantastic players and they keep producing new young talent like the lad Richards.

"It's never easy coming here and I can remember getting mullered here during my time with West Ham."

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