Players and fans have been praised for the “fantastic atmosphere” at Portman Road during Town’s draw against Norwich in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final.

Liz Edwards, chairman of Ipswich Town Supports’ Club, says fans will now be “drawing breath and dreaming of winning” after the Blues kept their Premiership hopes alive during a close fought East Anglian derby.

“What a great day it was,” she said.

“It was a fantastic atmosphere at a packed ground with a wonderful noise from all the stands and brilliant support for the team.”

Although Ms Edwards conceded Norwich may be the more “technically gifted” team, she praised the effort shown by the Town players.

“We took some cynical tackles but just got on with our game, and fully deserved the draw,” she added.

With Legends Bar packed after the game, Ms Edwards said the fans were in celebratory mood.

“So we draw breath and dream of winning next week,” she added. “Of course we are not the favourites, but that will just put more pressure on the home side.”

“Our away form has been a real mixed bag, but we’ve had enough good performances and great results to know we have a chance.

“We just might get them a bit nervous, silence the home crowd as we silenced their away support yesterday, and get the win that means so much to us.”

Ms Edwards said that whatever the result she will be “proud of this wonderful team, who have given us such a good season”.

“But I do know that all week, every Town fan is going to be dreaming of a big day out at Wembley, and I bet that every player – apart from maybe Bart – will be dreaming of scoring the winner.”