Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy says his side are thinking big following Saturday’s comfortable 4-1 home win over Leeds United.

It was a result which kept the Blues in second spot with the halfway stage of the season fast approaching. Fellow Championship high-fliers Derby (1st), Bournemouth (3rd) and Middlesbrough (4th) all won this weekend too, meaning just two points continue to separate the top four.

Town have now opened up a six-point gap to seventh-place though – not that their manager is looking over his shoulder.

With the updated standings outlined him to shortly after the final whistle, the ever-pragmatic Yorkshireman sarcastically replied: “Oh, boom! How many games have we got left?”

He continued: “We want to stay in the top two now. Why would we be looking at sixth and wondering what sort of cushion we have? We’re in second and we want to stay there. Whether we’re good enough or strong enough going forwards, who knows? But we’ve played a lot of the teams and we’re there now. It’s a nice place to be.”

Having trailed to Mirko Antenucci’s fourth minute goal, Town came storming back and had the game effectively wrapped up when Christophe Berra prodded home on the line less than three minutes into the second half.

Daryl Murphy moved to the top of the division’s leading scorers’ charts, his two first-half goals taking him to 13 for the campaign and already equalling his career-best tally from last season. David McGoldrick’s penalty meant that he’s now scored five goals in four games against Leeds.

Leeds boss Neil Redfearn admitted it was a ‘bad day at the office’ for his young side just a week after their impressive 2-0 win over Derby. Asked if he saw Ipswich as genuine top-two contenders he said: “Definitely, yeah. I think they’re well organised, they’re a physical side, they’re direct – but I don’t think they’re a long ball side by any means.

“They put balls in good areas. They’ve got a way of playing and they’re good at it. We talked about stopping crosses and we didn’t do it. You can’t afford to come to place like Ipswich Town and give them a leg-up – and that’s what we did.”

– See today’s EADT and Ipswich Star for match analysis, comment and reaction.