IPSWICH remain a long way from where they want to be, according to first team coach Bryan Klug.“There is still a lot to improve upon,” said Klug, “but there is definitely progress being made.

By Mel Henderson

IPSWICH remain a long way from where they want to be, according to first team coach Bryan Klug.

“There is still a lot to improve upon,” said Klug, “but there is definitely progress being made.”

Fourteenth-placed Town are one point better off than at the same stage last year as they go into the final third of the current campaign.

They are at least on target to improve on last season's finish of 15th, with 56 points, which was the club's worst for 40 years.

Klug admitted: “By this point in the season you are probably where you deserve to be. The league table doesn't tell too many lies.

“There have been games where we could have done better, where we got one point and maybe deserved all three, but every team will say the same.

“We are probing away here, there and everywhere, always seeking to improve.”

Klug was Jim Magilton's running mate in the race to succeed ex-boss Joe Royle and the pair's presentation so impressed the Portman Road board that they were given a first opportunity in management together.

As fully qualified a coach as it is possible to be, he left his job as Academy chief to work at first team level and said: “I am enjoying the challenge.

“It is completely different to what I was doing before but I am loving every minute of it.

“It has been something of a rollercoaster ride but I believe progress is being made.

“I feel people must look at the bigger picture. We are building something here.

“Every time we go out on the training ground we are trying to make it better.”

The immediate priority is to increase the goals output after drawing a blank in each of their last five away games.

That is hardly encouraging with an FA Cup fifth round visit to Watford on Saturday week, when top scorer Alan Lee will be absent through suspension along with recent recruit Jon Walters because he is cup-tied.

Town have only netted eight in their last seven home games, with three of them coming in the local derby win over Colchester.

Klug added: “On the plus side we have kept five clean sheets in our last eight games, but there's no doubt we want more goals.

“Performances generally have lacked a bit of a cutting edge but I think we have the resources to solve the problem from within.

“We have a reasonable-sized squad and we have four strikers competing for places.

“But we are no different to most other clubs at this level in that we are not happy with where we are.

“People say we cannot make the play-offs but until it is mathematically impossible we must believe there is a chance.

“On the other hand, every club is looking to get to 50 points as soon as they can, because that's generally the number you need to be safe in this league.

“There are 15 games left this season and we will be going out to try to win each and every one of them.

“We're not where we want to be yet, not by a long way, but we firmly believe we are getting there.”