IPSWICH must feel they are at a crossroads. Although the East Anglian side occupy the second automatic promotion spot, their board have come under intense fire from fans for their lack of ambition and short-sightedness after selling key players Alex Mathie, Mauricio Taricco and Danny Sonner to reduce a £3m overdraft.

It is a far cry from the halcyon days of the late Seventies and early Eighties when Bobby Robson was in charge and chairman Patrick Cobbold once described an Ipswich crisis as being "where the boardroom had run out of dry white wine".

The current manager George Burley, a Robson protege, has ignored the omen that you should never return to a former club, has built teams who have reached the play-offs for the last two seasons and has managed to keep the club financially solvent.

Burley possesses a shrewd eye in the transfer market picking up leading scorer David Johnson from Bury for £1m as well as journeyman defender Mark Venus on a free transfer.

He has also nurtured home-grown talent like keeper Richard Wright and midfielder Kieron Dyer both named in this week's England squads.

However, this season's form is dramatically different. Normally Ipswich start slowly and finish the second half of the season like an Intercity 125 to reach the play-offs. This year 11 clean sheets in 18 League games has earned them the best defensive record in the club's history.

One suspects George Graham's influence is not far away. Stewart Houston, Graham's former assistant at Arsenal, is now Burley's number two. Graham's style is apparent as Ipswich players hunt in packs when they have not got the ball and seek to channel the opposition away from the wide flanks through the middle where they are met by a formidable trio of centre backs.

When in the opening five minutes Johnson headed in his 11th goal of the season from a Jamie Clapham corner Barnsley were always on the back foot made worse by the sending off by Arjan de Zeeuw before half time.

While "One-nil to the Ipswich" may not rhyme, if they do get promoted at the end of the season, then the dilemma between solvency and success can be seen to have been overcome.

Daily Telegraph