It was set to be a brilliant day. Glorious weather, a good crowd (considering the opposition) and Blues fresh from their triumph against table toppers Leeds. This seemed borne out by an impressive opening fifteen minutes when Blues could have been a couple of goals to the good.

However, Ipswich sat deep and with Blues lacking real midfield creativity, they started to struggle. In their keenness to make a breakthrough they pushed too far forward and were caught with a sucker punch. Then even worse was to follow as they were too slow to react to a corner and an Ipswich player shinned the ball home to give the away side a comfortable two goal advantage.

However, whatever Garry Monk said at half-time seemed to have the desired effect and with Gardner going off injured his replacement Kleftenbeld brought some energy and rumbustiousness to the midfield area. Blues then deservedly pulled a goal back with Jukiewicz coolly slotting home to confound his ‘couldn’t hit a barn door’ critics.

Then Monk pulled a masterstroke by risking Jota in midfield and bringing on loanee Mahoney, and what a prospect he looked. Eager to get on the ball and tricky without being over elaborate as Maghoma and Jota are prone to be. His crossing was excellent and with a bit of luck he could also have scored the winner.