Ipswich v Blackburn: Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy changed a winning formula and came up trumps as Blackburn were defeated 3-1 at Portman Road.

The Blues boss made four alterations to the side which won a bruising encounter 1-0 at Charlton last weekend, with three of the players promoted to the starting line-up – Luke Hyam, Carlos Edwards and Frank Nouble – grabbing the goals.

With Town moving to within two points and two places of the top six in the congested Championship table, McCarthy said: “I’m a lucky manager obviously!

“I just wanted fresh legs in the team after a real tough game at Charlton.

I’ve only really got 18 outfield players and they require managing going into this busy Christmas period.”

Last night’s victory came in front of the lowest crowd of the season at Portman Road - 14,953 - though three wins from four games is likely to see that figure boosted for Saturday’s visit of Huddersfield.

“Christmas is coming, everyone is scraping around for money. The crowd doesn’t worry me,” said McCarthy.

“We do fine. We had a fabulous away following at Charlton. What we don’t want to do is win 3-1 and then disappoint on Saturday.”

Reflecting on the game, which saw ex-Blues striker Jordan Rhodes cancel out Hyam’s early strike before Edwards and Nouble struck at either end of the second period, McCarthy said: “I’ve been on at the midfielders to get more goals and thankfully that happened tonight.

“It was great to see Frank score too. Second half he was far better, I have to be honest. That’s what he should do.

“He’s a frightening prospect when he’s bearing down on you with such pace and size. He’s got his rewards chasing that one down

“I gave him a real volley recently and he deserved it. We train properly and I wasn’t having what he was doing. I told him that’s what you do; you play properly and give me a problem, don’t get a lip on.”