Blues made it nine points out of nine with a convincing 2-1 win against Ipswich Town on Tuesday evening.

Liam Ridgewell volleyed home a superb effort on nine minutes, before Super Kevin Phillips scored his ninth goal of the season for Blues on 14 minutes.

But Blues were left sweating for the last few minutes of the game after former Blues defender Alex Bruce pulled a goal back for his side six minutes from the end of normal time.

The result also saw Blues extend the gap between themselves and third placed Reading after the Royals could only manage a 2-2 draw away at Cardiff 

Alex McLeish made two changes to the side which overcame Swansea last Friday night.

Two goal hero Kevin Phillips returned to the starting line up in place of Quincy and Nigel Quashie replaced Mehdi Nafti, having served his one game suspension against the Swans.

Within a minute of the kick off Blues fashioned their first chance of the game.

Nicky Hunt's ball over the top of the Ipswich defence found Seb Larsson on the right.

The Swede pulled the ball back to Lee Carsley on the edge of the box, but the Blues captain was unable to keep his shot down and it flew over the bar.

Blues had started the game with real pace and after seven minutes the St. Andrew's faithfully thought their side had taken an early lead only to see Kevin Phillips close range volley ruled out for offside.

But their disappointment was short-lived as Liam Ridgewell blasted Blues into a ninth minute lead.

Marcus Bent's initial shot was blocked by an Ipswich defender before it bounced up kindly to an unmarked Ridgewell on the left of the box.

And just like a top striker Ridgewell volleyed the ball home into the far corner.

Rampant Blues had just another five minutes to wait before they doubled their advantage.

Larsson made a superb run from the half way line down the right wing before curling in an inch perfect cross to far post.

Kevin Phillips found half a yard of room and directed his header past the flailing Ipswich keeper Richard Wright.

Having already committed a number of dubious challenges Ipswich finally saw one of their players cautioned on 16 minutes after Richard Naylor committed a crude challenge on Phillips.
 
Blues were dealt a major blow on 28minutes when skipper Lee Carsley was forced to leave the proceedings with what appeared to be a muscle strain, to be replaced by Mehdi Nafti.

It took until 35 minutes for the visitors to have their first effort on the Blues and they managed to mess that up.

Owen Garvan and Pablo Counago conspired to get in each other's way as they both tried to volley the ball inside the Blues box.

The resultant shot sailed well wide of Maik Taylor's upright.

The game was becoming very niggly at this stage with Ipswich in particular guilty of committing several rash challenges.

Former Blues defender Alex Bruce was fortunate not to receive a caution after he caught Marcus Bent in the back of the head.

Half time: Blues 2 Ipswich 0

No doubt chastised by their manager's half time team talk Ipswich came out of the blocks flying and Blues were given a major scare less than two minutes after the restart.

Ipswich won a corner on the right and the resultant dead ball was fired directly into the centre of the Blues box.

Ipswich captain Naylor had a clear header on goal but nodded it wide.

Having weathered the early Ipswich storm Blues began to force their way back into the game and they came close to extending their lead on 57 minutes.

McFadden fed the overlapping Queudrue on the left.

The French full back used a great bit of skill to leave his marker for dead, before firing in a powerful curling chip which rebounded back off the bar.

A minute later McFadden went close with a deft chip of his own which just failed to drop in time and went narrowly over.

Just after the hour mark, Jim Magilton made a double substitution with Tommy Miller replacing Jon Stead and Danny Haynes coming on for Velice Sumulikoski.

Blues suffered their second injury of the game when Nigel Quashie limped off after injuring himself in a tackle on 65 minutes.

Kemy Agustien replaced him in the centre of midfield.

Substitution number three for Blues followed minutes later when David Murphy came on for Franck Queudrue.

Then for Ipswich, Magilton made his final the change of the night on 72 minutes with former Charlton striker Kevin Lisbie replacing Pablo Counago up front.

Ipswich looked at this stage as if the game was slipping away from them and were being constricted to the odd counter attack on the break.

Very much against the run of play Ipswich found themselves back in the game after 84 minutes when Alex Bruce headed home a corner. 

But Blues came close to striking back within minutes through Kevin Phillips.

Phillips found himself in space on the right hand side of the box 20 yards out and instinctively hit a first time half volley that had Wright diving full stretch, but unfortunately the ball went three yards wide of the post.

As the game entered stoppage time Lisbie let go with a long range shot, but it lacked direction and went comfortably wide.

Blues now travel to Molineux on Saturday in good spirits.
 
Full time: Blues 2 Ipswich 1

Blues: Maik Taylor, Franck Queudrue (David Murphy), Radhi Jaidi, Nicky Hunt, Liam Ridgewell, Seb Larsson, Lee Carsley (Mehdi Nafti), Nigel Quashie Kemy Agustien), Marcus Bent, James McFadden, Kevin Phillips.

Subs not used: Colin Doyle, Cameron Jerome.

Goals: Ridgewell (9), Phillips (14)

Bookings: None

Ipswich: Richard Wright, Richard Naylor, Jon Walters, Jon Stead (Tommy Miller), Alex Bruce, David Wright, Ben Thatcher, Velice Sumulikoski (Danny Haynes), Owen Garvan, Pablo Counago (Kevin Lisbie), Darren Ambrose.

Subs not used: Shane Supple, Pim Balkenstein.  

Goals: Bruce (84).

Bookings: Naylor (16)

Attendance: 15, 689

Referee: R Shoebridge