Ipswich 'only going to get better' - Mathie

Former Ipswich Town striker Alex Mathie believes the current team is "only going to get better" following Sunday's 3-1 win over East Anglia rivals Norwich City.

The three points lifted Kieran McKenna's side to ninth in the Championship, just two points outside the play-off places - with the highlight provided by Jaden Philogene's stunning 30-yard strike which made the score 2-1.

"It was a great finish from Philogene again - he's really on fire just now, every time he shoots, he scores," Mathie, who netted a hat-trick against the Canaries in 1998, told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"To just have the confidence to do that with his left foot, which is not his strongest foot - it was unstoppable, it really was.

"It's a massive confidence boost. We go ninth now with a game in hand and if we win that we'd be top three. We're only going to get better because the team is still building.

"We've got a lot more to come - I think we can still play better, we still need to sort the playing out from the back a little bit because they had the high press and we were getting ourselves in bother."

McKenna guided Ipswich to promotion two seasons ago but Mathie believes to do so this term would be an even bigger achievement, given the summer turnover at Portman Road, with 11 new players arriving.

"We've got the best young manager - if he can get us up there challenging, and promoted this season, he's done the best ever job because he's got a brand new squad and for a manager to do that in a short space of time would be fantastic," the Scot added.

Ipswich are next in action following the international break when they travel to face Middlesbrough on Friday, 17 October.