Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy is not getting too carried away by his side’s perfect week.
The Blues made it three wins in eight days on Saturday with a come-from-behind 2-1 home victory over in-form Huddersfield Town at Portman Road.
This is Ipswich’s 12th consecutive season in the second tier, with their 29 points from the opening 19 games having only been bettered in two of those campaigns (Joe Royle’s sides going on to finish fifth and third in 2003/04 and 2004/05 respectively).
Only Derby County (five successive wins) are in better Championship form at present, with the Suffolk side heading to a faltering Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
“I don’t get carried away by all that,” said McCarthy. “If we end up in the play-offs at the end of the season, scraping in on goal difference, then great – I’ll just take it as it comes.
“We are planning to finish as high as we can. It’s great to have three wins on the bounce, but we’re going to (Nottingham) Forest on Saturday and that could burst the bubble very quickly because they’re a good team.
“It’s all about how many points you end up with, not how you achieve them and when you achieve them.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy paid tribute to match-winner Daryl Murphy, the striker heading home in 89th minute after David McGoldrick had cancelled out Danny Ward’s first-half opener.
“Dids (McGoldrick) is the more technical footballer, but Murph is the more powerful, quicker, aggressive and better in the air. They are a great partnership.
“I signed Murph from Waterford for Sunderland. He’s had a bit of a mixed career, but he loves it here. He was keen to sign permanently in the summer and is repaying me in spades.”
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