IPSWICH Town manager Jim Magilton felt that the 5-1 result against Barnsley was a fair one.And he went into today's game at Sheffield Wednesday confident of keeping the winning run going.

By Elvin King

IPSWICH Town manager Jim Magilton felt that the 5-1 result against Barnsley was a fair one.

And he went into today's game at Sheffield Wednesday confident of keeping the winning run going.

“We passed the ball well and created some good chances in the first half,” said Magilton. When Barnsley scored it looked a bit dodgy for us but, as they pushed forward, they left gaps which we exploited. There were always goals in the game for us.

“We could have had more than five, but I can't have any complaints and the scoreline was a fair reflection.

“Confidence is sky-high, but we must keep a lid on it. We have freshened things up in training and the players have responded.”

Magilton singled out January signing Jonathan Walters for special praise but was also happy with many other performances: “The all-round play of Jon Walters was first class. If he had not scored it would have been a travesty.

“Franny Jeffers and Danny Haynes both found the net and played well, which gives us options.

“George O'Callaghan has been desperate to play and came in and did well. He grew into the game and scored a terrific goal.

“Gavin Williams was waiting to play his part but we did not want one more booking before yesterday's (SUN) deadline.”

Barnsley boss Simon Davey is convinced his side can escape relegation despite dropping into the bottom three: “It was a bad day at the office but there is no doubt in my mind that we will secure enough points to stay in this division.

“We had to gamble to try to win the game so we had three up front. Now we must focus on our task. We have five games left and know what we have got to do. This was a setback, a cup final that we have lost.

“We gave the first two goals away against the run of play. We shot ourselves in the foot. We got it back to 2-1 and, if we could have survived the next five minutes and then put them under pressure, who knows what might have happened?

“The morale is fine but we are in our first year in the Championship and knew it was going to be a tough season. We lost a lot of battles on the pitch and at this level you get punished.”