Who can back up Delap's goalscoring efforts?

'Liam Delap ole ole!' rang out across Portman Road on Sunday afternoon, as the Ipswich Town faithful acknowledged another goalscoring impact from their new hero, who scored an excellent double to extend the club's unbeaten run to four.

If previous performances were about grinding out points in adversity, especially away from home, and becoming hard to beat - then Sunday's outing marked an evolution in attacking intent.

Despite Aston Villa dominating territory and possession in the first half, the home team had more shots, efforts on target and also so-called 'big chances'.

In similar fashion to the draw with Fulham, the second period saw the Blues grow into the game and extend their dominance of the attacking metrics.

Kieran McKenna's side, roared on by the buoyant home support, would not have been flattered - in either fixture - if they had scored a winning goal.

Games against the likes of Aston Villa will not decide the ultimate success or failure of Ipswich's campaign, and the same goes for a good chunk of our opponents this season, but taking points over other sides seeking to avoid the bottom three will.

That requires chances to be created and, most crucially, converted.

It is worth noting that Town's pathway to the top-flight relied heavily on goals from the three players behind the front-man.

Conor Chaplin was the Blues' top scorer from the number 10 position in each of the club's promotion-winning seasons. Even in the Championship last season, Nathan Broadhead and Omari Hutchinson scored more than our forwards.

So, while Delap's early goal return is as reassuring as it has been necessary so far, the hope now is that the likes of Hutchinson and Jack Clarke can get off the mark to back him up.

What better time than a run of four games in a row against fellow bottom-half sides?

Find more from Richard Woodward at the Blue Monday Podcast