IPSWICH Town boss Paul Jewell has admitted that he feared for his new club’s Championship survival, following his first game in charge.

IPSWICH Town boss Paul Jewell has admitted that he feared for his new club’s Championship survival, following his first game in charge.

Jewell was worried for Town’s short-term future, after that 2-1 defeat at Millwall six weeks ago.

But now, even though Town have suffered back-to-back 2-0 defeats in the last week, beaten at league leaders QPR in midweek and then at home to Portsmouth on Saturday, that initial gloom has been lifted.

Jewell’s men were made to pay for a string of missed chances against Pompey – they should have been out-of-sight by half-time – before second-half goals from David Nugent and David Cotterill secured an unlikely fourth win on the bounce for the south coast club.

“After my first game at Millwall, I have to be brutally honest, I thought we looked like a team that was going to have to go all out just to stay up,” confessed Jewell.

“Since then I’m quite happy with the lots of progress being made here, but also I’m aware that there is lot of progress and a good deal of work ahead of us, to make us into a tough team that is hopefully going to be challenging for promotion next season.

“But again, we are not out of the woods this year. There’s a long, long way to go yet.

“However, this doesn’t look like a relegation team to me.

“The way we have played in the last three games, over the last week, gives me great heart for the future.

“Yet I also know that we have to improve mentally, to get tougher. The worst we should have got today was a 0-0,” added Jewell.

Town have played well over the last eight days, against Hull, QPR and Portsmouth, although it is a concern that they have only taken one point from a possible nine.

Connor Wickham and Jason Scotland were the chief culprits in front of goal on Saturday.