IT might not have been pretty but the Super Blues are back in the top six.

Last night’s gritty 1-0 win over Portsmouth lacked the finesse of recent weeks – but match-winner Keith Andrews believes it showcased the side’s new-found character perfectly.

But the midfielder admitted: “I thought we were sloppy at times.

“We weren’t at the races, there were too many of us who didn’t play to the standard we have set in recent weeks and we didn’t play our free-flowing game that we know we can do.

“They (Pompey) played quite well and dominated for good chunks of the game. If I was them going back on the motorway, I wouldn’t be too pleased.”

Andrews scored his fifth goal in a Town shirt in the 69th minute to move the Blues into the play-off places and extend their unbeaten run to six matches.

And it was a match that Ipswich would have lost only a few weeks ago – as Andrews frankly admitted.

He said: “I was delighted with the goal and the win, not so much the performance as we know we haven’t played well.

“But on the flip side of that, it is a sign of a good team when you don’t play particularly well but you get the three points.

“We are moulding into a team that can grind out results and if we can keep doing that, we will be there or thereabouts.”

And while branding his side’s performance “hopeless”, Town boss Paul Jewell added: “If you want to be a decent team, you have got to win games when you don’t play well. Sometimes these type of wins are more satisfying.”