Ipswich Town 3 Walsall 2: IPSWICH Town continued their recent run of form with a nervy 3-2 win over Walsall at Portman Road.It means Town have now gained 11 points from the last five matches and there are signs that a play-off place may still be a possibility.

Ipswich Town 3 Walsall 2

IPSWICH Town continued their recent run of form with a nervy 3-2 win over Walsall at Portman Road.

It means Town have now gained 11 points from the last five matches and there are signs that a play-off place may still be a possibility.

Some picky refereeing decisions made the first half a very disjointed affair. Five bookings, many of them unnecessary, meant there were four minutes of injury time added to the first period.

But it turned out to be a good thing for Ipswich as in the third minute of time added on Town took the lead.

Jim Magilton fed Richard Naylor out wide and his cross was dropped by Gavin Ward in the Walsall goal giving Pablo Counago an easy task to put Ipswich ahead.

Town looked brighter in the second period as they went out to seal the three points.

On the hour mark Thomas Gaardsoe met a Magilton corner to head home his third goal in three matches and Town looked to be on their way to a comfortable victory.

But more poor defending by Ipswich in the 70th minute allowed Jorge Leitao to force the ball into the box and Darren Wrack had space to shoot Walsall back into the match.

Ipswich continued to press forward and when Counago twisted and turned in the Walsall box to free himself from Matt Carbon and then fire past Ward with just six minutes remaining it all looked settled.

However, there was still time for Wrack to force a good save from Andy Marshall only for the ball to fall back to the Walsall forward who scored to leave a nervous couple of minutes for Ipswich to hold out.

Thankfully there were only three second half minutes of injury time and despite a late scramble from a Walsall corner Ipswich got the win.

Town are now within sniffing distance of the top half of the table although they remain eight points adrift of the play-off places.

Both fans and players must know that a long unbeaten run is the only way to move up the table. If Town can continue in the nature of this festive period they may be challenging for a play-off spot come Easter.