Luke Varney says that Ipswich Town’s players know they have to improve, and quickly, if they are to secure a top-six finish.

The Blues rode their luck in securing 1-0 wins against Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest, were outplayed in a 2-2 draw at Bolton and then never got going in a 1-0 defeat to rivals Cardiff on Saturday.

It’s still all to play for in the ever-unpredictable Championship though and back-to-back home games this week – Blackburn tonight and Rotherham on Saturday – provide a golden opportunity to get things back on track.

“We must admit that, amongst the squad, we’re very disappointment in our application and some of the stuff that went on Saturday,” said Varney. “It was a massive game, they are direct competitors, and we didn’t do enough. The journey back was quiet, but we’re still in there, we have a game in hand, so we have to put last week behind us quite quickly.”

Asked if performance levels needed to improve, Varney replied: “Most certainly. If you look back to the seven points we got from three games, we didn’t play well, but we did what we do and dug out results. We need to get back to at least that and hopefully a bit of quality will come through.”

He added: “We talk quite openly about people writing us off. I think that was the case last year and we dealt with that pressure. We’ll probably be underdogs again, but that’s a tag we’ll take.

“The talk in the dressing room is that we’re demanding six points this week. We think we need two wins after the two disappointing results we’ve had.”