Two first-half goals by Noel Hunt helped Ipswich Town climb back into the Championship automatic promotion places with a comfortable victory against relegation-threatened Millwall, which added to the pressure on Ian Holloway.

'At the minute, we seem to struggle to win a header on the pitch and we need to sort that out,' said the Millwall manager. 'It's vital the boys realise that I'm here and I've been given the job to save this club. We have to make some decisions very, very quickly, and try and add some new players, because the secret is from the outside rather than from within.

'There are a number of elements I need to put right because the nervousness and the worry seems to be any time anyone gets near our goal.

'We're letting too many goals in and we're not scoring enough. I believe I'm totally at the right place, and I'm going to work to make it better.

'We need to be a little bit more physical, a little bit more at it, and some of the lads need to realise that. We are family and I'm not going to give up, ever.'

Noel Hunt, who signed a permanent deal with Ipswich this month, scored twice in the first 14 minutes; first, he latched on to Stephen Hunt's lobbed ball over the Millwall defence to finish under the goalkeeper, David Forde, from close range. He then tapped in his second, eight minutes later, after a dangerous cross found its way to Kevin Bru, whose shot was parried straight into the path of the Ipswich forward, who gladly helped himself to his third Championship goal of the season. Magaye Gueye's goal at the end of the first half halved the deficit, the French winger proving to be the main threat for Holloway's men.

In the second half, Mick McCarthy, sent on his new signing, Freddie Sears, and the striker made a decisive contribution on 75 minutes, when his pass set fellow substitute Jonathan Parr free to slot the ball past Forde, extending Ipswich's unbeaten away record to seven games in all competitions.

'It was an outstanding performance from Hunty, I'm delighted with him,' said McCarthy of his double goalscorer. 'I'm really pleased with the way we played and delighted with the result. It was always going to be tough, and they set off at a real pace, but we managed to stem that and get the goals, and it took the sting out of it for us.'

The Observer