HE might have made 213 starts for arch rivals Norwich City and enjoyed a wonderful unbeaten run against Ipswich – up until Saturday.

But Cardiff City man Malky Mackay has given his backing to Town’s unlikely assault on the top six of the Championship.

The Blues moved up to 16th after their comprehensive 3-0 win over Mackay’s men on Saturday.

And while they remain 11 points off Birmingham in sixth, fans are at least looking up rather than down for almost the first time this season.

And Mackay said: “Ipswich are a good team with stacks of experience so I don’t see why they can’t make the play-offs.

“With 15 games to go, I think anyone of good value can make the play-offs – and Ipswich are that.

“Teams go on a good run and all of a sudden they can go from 18th to the top area. It is a tight league and it will go right down to the wire.”

Mackay lost his first match against Ipswich in 14 attempts as player and manager on Saturday thanks to two from Lee Martin and another for Michael Chopra.

But he had nothing but praise for the club, despite his roots elsewhere in East Anglia.

He said: “I enjoy coming to Portman Road. The club has always been fairly kind to me, considering I am an ex-Norwich player.

“There are good people here. It is always a lovely pitch and it is always a good game because the crowd is always vociferous and there is always lots of them.

“We knew we were playing a side who were on a roll, who had beaten the league leaders 5-1. I knew it was going to be a tough game.

“In the first half, we played well. But we knew we should have been much better in the second half when we were second to most balls.”