It might seem fanciful to even the most die-hard Town optimist.

But Michael Chopra has refused to give up on his unlikely promotion dream – despite Ipswich being 11 places and 14 points off the top six.

But with 48 points left to play for and Chopra and Town in their best form of the season, the red-hot striker insists: “We’re three out of three at the moment and if we can continue like this then who knows?

“There’s always one team that makes that big final push into the play-offs every season so why can it not be us?”

Chopra’s comments could be dismissed as exuberance from a striker bang in form. And while they were tempered a little by assistant manager Chris Hutchings yesterday, the Town number two has not completely ruled out one of the most dramatic endings to a season in the club’s proud history.

Hutchings said: “There are plenty of games to go and we have to continue the form we have been showing, keep working extremely hard and then see how far we can go. Our goal is only to win the next game and keep up the standards, hopefully keep a clean sheet and develop as a team. How far that takes us, who knows?

“We are confident in ourselves, and the players are confident. The challenge now is can we win four on the spin?

“Winning breeds confidence and when you are winning you try things, those things usually come off.

“Hopefully we have turned the corner but we have to make sure we are at our best against Cardiff.”

While any run towards the play-offs might come too late for Ipswich, their only hopes of an amazing finale surely rest on Chopra maintaining his sparkling form which has yielded four goals in three games, making him sixth top scorer in the Championship.

And Town go into their match against Chopra’s old club Cardiff City tomorrow equally sky-high after three consecutive wins which have seen goals galore, a last-minute winner and a long-awaited clean sheet.

Chopra added: “The lads are flying, we’ve got Cardiff at the weekend and a few of them might have their minds on the cup final the week after, not wanting to get injured and things like that. It could work in our favour, but it’s going to be tough.”