Daryl Murphy scored the only goal of the game to hand Ipswich Town a victory in their Championship clash with Birmingham City at Portman Road.
The visitors started the better of the two sides as Aaron Cresswell had to be alert early on to stop Nikola Zigic in his tracks, making a good last-ditch tackle to prevent him from finding a way to goal.
Birmingham were playing the better football and should have taken the lead in the 17th minute when Lee Novak found space inside the box, but he could only fire his effort wide of the target from close range.
Ipswich were struggling to carve out any clear-cut opportunities with the closest coming when Cresswell knocked a pass onto the feet of Frank Nouble, but his shot was saved by Darren Randolph.
However, minutes later the Tractor Boys were ahead when Nouble raided down the left and crossed into the box for Murphy, who was there to tap home from close range.
After the break, Mick McCarthy's side almost doubled their lead when Paul Taylor fired an effort at goal from just outside the area, but Randolph was there to make the save.
Taylor was causing problems for the Blues as the back with his movement and he threatened again shortly after, but this time his effort went just over the bar.
Birmingham had a great chance to level things up when Chris Burke raided down the right and dug out a cross for Novak, but again he lost his composure and missed the target.
Murphy had the chance to add a late second for the home side, but his powerful effort was beaten away by Randolph.
Simon Sinclair
