BLUES 2-1 Ipswich

BLUES hold out for all three points to keep the pressure on their promotion rivals as two early strikes from Liam Ridgwell and Kevin Phillips were enough to seal the win.

Blues have now opened up a six point gap between third place Reading as they could only draw at Cardiff. Wolves continue their good form at Sheffield United winning 3-1.

Blues started where they left off on Friday against Swansea with pressure from the beginning. Kevin Phillips had a goal disallowed only five minutes in as he was caught offside, but moments later Ridgwell produced a great shot from six yards out straight into the top right hand corner to put his side ahead.

A rampant Blues had only five minutes to wait before they doubled their advantage through Phillips. Seb Larsson made a great run down the right from the half-way line to cross in a perfect ball which was met by Phillips who found a yard of space to guide his header past keeper Richard Wright.

Despite Ipswich not having a single shot on target throughout the first half, Blues were dealt a major blow after 28 minutes when skipper Lee Carsley was forced to leave the field of play with what appeared to be a muscle strain. He was replaced by Mehdi Nafti.

In the second half Ipswich came at Blues and started to cause some real problems. Only three minutes after the restart the Tractor Boys had a great chance to pull one back as a right wing corner was headed agonisingly wide by skipper Richard Naylor.

After Blues weathered the early Ipswich storm it was the cross bar that was the difference between Blues scoring again. James McFadden played a great ball through to the overlapping Franck Queudrue on the left. The French full-back used his skill to leave his marker but his shot smashed against the bar.

Blues suffered their second injury of the game on 65 minutes when Nigel Quashie limped off after going into a tackle. Kemy Agustien was on hand to replace him in the centre of midfield. Alex McLeish made his third and final substitution bringing off Queudrue for David Murphy who has recovered from his injury.

On 84, against the run of play Ipswich bought one back through centre half Alex Bruce as he headed in from a corner. However Ipswich failed to complete the comeback as the Blues backline stood strong.

Blues now travel to the Molineux on Saturday in good spirits looking to close the gap on the leaders.