We’re back on track. It wasn’t especially pretty, but the Friday night win against Derby was a very big result. We got the job done, and that’s what matters most of all.

If we’d failed to win that game, the nerves would have started to jangle. The doom-mongers would have been asking whether Ipswich were faltering. We’ve done it before in October!

As I said, the Derby game wasn’t exactly a classic to serve up to the TV audience. But we did manage a rare win in front of the Sky cameras. Maybe it was because we were disguised in our black away strip.

In all seriousness, it was a game which, once again, displayed our many strengths, and also highlighted our shortcomings.

We had most of the possession, got ourselves into lots of promising situations, but created very few clear-cut chances. As too often happens, our final ball often lacked quality. It meant that Derby were able to snuff out promising attack after promising attack.

In the end, the visitors presented our winner to us on a plate. Credit to Wes Burns and Kayden Jackson for forcing the mistake. And well done Wes on a fine finish. That really wasn’t as simple as it looked.

The front four against Derby was, once again, a surprise. Lots of pace, decent quality, but (and I know I sound like a broken record) a real lack of a natural goal scorer.

I am beginning to warm to Jackson, who terrifies defences with his pace. But his finishing is not great. That’s been the case throughout his time at the club.

When he came on, Freddie Ladapo looks strangely off the pace. There is still a debate about what role he has to play. It looks like Kieran McKenna is still trying to find the winning formula up front. We definitely need to see a new face in January.

It looks like we will have to travel to Port Vale tomorrow night without our established midfield pair of Sam Morsy and Lee Evans.

Morsy will be suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season. Evans went off injured on Friday night with a knee problem.

Looking at Evans’ reaction as he hobbled from the field, and McKenna’s worrying words after the game, I fear he will be missing for some time. Remember, he had a serious knee problem towards the end of last season.

If that turns out to be the case, we will really miss him. He’s been one of our standout performers this season. Step forward Dominic Ball. Our squad is certainly being put to the test at the moment.

Our defence was terrific on Friday night. We restricted Derby to such an extent that Christian Walton made only one save, late on when he pushed a half-struck David McGoldrick effort past the post. It looked like it was going wide anyway.

The defensive trio of Janoi Donacien, Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson probably won’t get the plaudits for their performances against Derby, but they certainly deserve praise for completely nullifying the visitors’ attack.

When Woolfenden plays like that - which he has consistently this season - he looks a real class act. If you cast your mind back a few years, Woolfenden and Flynn Downes were our bright young things, destined for top careers.

Well, it’s happened for Downes, now at West Ham and earning rave reviews when he plays in cup games. It’s been a different route for Woolfenden, and at times his career really looked to have stalled. But he’s back on track now, and Kieran McKenna should take a lot of credit for that.

A word about the Town fans. For more than 28,000 to turn out on a Friday night when they could have watched the game on TV really was extraordinary. Well done to the club for coming up with a price promotion to get more bums on seats.

So, two tricky away games now. Port Vale tomorrow night, and then Charlton next Saturday. We will have a weakened side. Four points will keep up the momentum.