Never too low after defeat, never too high after victory.

Pragmatic Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy continued his level-headed approach following Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Millwall with some words of warning for his players.

Because just as the Blues were arguably unfortunate to lose 2-1 at Reading on the opening day of the new Championship campaign, they had to work harder for this home victory than the scoreline suggests – the deadlock not broken until after the hour mark.

“It was a solid performance,” said McCarthy. “Three-nil probably puts a gloss on it and elevates it to something perhaps over and above what it was.

“They’ve all done well, but they’ve still got plenty to do. There’s hard work ahead for all of us.”

With a trip to newly-relegated QPR coming up on Saturday, the Blues boss is keen to keep the level of positivity surrounding the club high though.

He added: “I said in my programme notes that just because we’d been beaten at Reading and Stevenage any wave of optimism that was sweeping around the place shouldn’t have been dampened somewhat.

“I don’t think it had and that showed. The crowd were fantastic.”