Norwich, who might have been routed in the first half here yesterday, took another step towards automatic promotion by regaining the three-point lead at the top they had lost by not playing on Saturday. More relevantly, they are 10 points ahead of third-placed Wigan, with a dozen matches to play.

But the taunting shouts from their supporters to their rivals of "We'll never play you again" sounded a little optimistic on this evidence.

For the first 45 minutes, and in the opening salvos of the second half, the tightest defence in the division was pulled apart by City's neighbours. Ipswich could have moved up to fourth with victory; instead they slipped out of the top six.

It was a bewildering match and for the Norwich defender Malky Mackay in particular. Mackay, making his 200th league appearance for the club, scored twice to double his total for the season before appearing to give away the penalty that brought Ipswich back into the contest at 2-1.

The 32-year-old, whose crucial goals did much for Norwich when the club reached the play-offs two years ago, said: "It's a fantastic result for us and I was delighted to score two. But Ipswich could have been two or three up at half-time and then the match would have been dead and buried.

"They played a tight four in midfield and it caused us all sorts of problems. We were given a few choice words at half-time and goals change matches."

The former Celtic player was fair in his assessment. The Ipswich defender Fabian Wilnis, however, was probably a little harsh when he said: "If Norwich were a good side, I wouldn't mind. But they're simply not good enough to be top. They're honest guys but where is the quality?

"If they go up, they'll come straight down. They need at least 15 new players. I would rather see any team go up other than Norwich. It should have been all over in the first half."

Ipswich came here as the top scorers in the division with 62 goals. But sloppy finishing and the woodwork prevented them from taking control. Ian Westlake hit the post in the 20th minute, Matt Richards pushed tamely wide when he should have scored in the 28th and Darren Bent struck the bar in the 36th, to mention but three of Ipswich's numerous opportunities.

Norwich, who have been top since they beat Ipswich at Portman Road on December 21, have conceded two goals in six matches and have kept 10 clean sheets in 16 attempts. But without the hip-injured Adam Drury they appeared panicky and disorganised.

Mackay headed them in front five minutes into the second half, from Ian Henderson's free-kick wide on the right. Mackay, again, made it 2-0 from Paul McVeigh's free-kick nine minutes later.

Tommy Miller scored for Ipswich from the spot in the 88th minute, after Richard Naylor took a tumble between Mackay and Jason Shackell. By then Ipswich were down to 10 men, following the 75th-minute red card shown to Drissa Diallo for bringing down Darren Huckerby.

Huckerby settled the match when he burst down the left, though his shot would not have beaten Kelvin Davis with out a cruel deflection from Georges Santos.

"This is the second time in a week that we have completely dominated a match and lost it by two goals," grumbled Ipswich's manager Joe Royle. "We just weren't at the races in the first half," conceded his Norwich counterpart Nigel Worthington.

Paul Weaver (Guardian)