The clock’s ticking. On owner Marcus Evans to make a decision and certainly on Blues boss Paul Jewell to find that precious win from anywhere.

Seven straight defeats is simply unacceptable. But even if the improved performance against Watford on Saturday rightly bought the manager some time, Jewell is no fool.

Lose on Saturday against Barnsley in full glare of the Sky television cameras and Evans might have to act.

Defeat against the Tykes would equal Town’s second ever worst run of defeats – mirroring the club’s doomed Premiership campaign of 1994/95.

Or it could be that Jewell has 180 minutes to save his job – with the home match against, ironically, his former club Derby County a potential tipping point.

For now, the reclusive owner remains patient with Jewell but both parties know this can only last so long with the club currently enduring its worst run in the second tier of English football for more than 50 years.

And while the players on Saturday went some way to answering any fair criticism over their own part in the seven-game horror show, the fact they could not beat an average Watford side was telling.

The end may not be nigh. The vultures might be circling but a win in front of a national audience on Saturday might convince Evans to stand by his man – and back him in the January transfer window.

But defeats in the next two matches could mean a very black Christmas for Jewell and everyone connected with Ipswich Town Football Club.