The best performance of my reign – Paul Lambert lavishes praise on Ipswich

Ipswich manager Paul Lambert said his team produced their “best performance” of his time in charge after they went behind early on before thrashing Burton 4-1.

Kayden Jackson and Alan Judge both bagged braces as Town ended their four-match winless run and boosted their promotion challenge in League One.

The visitors’ goal came after a sixth-minute strike from Jamie Murphy – after Will Keane had missed a golden chance for Town – but Burton were well beaten as their winless run extended to six games.

Lambert said: “Since my time I’ve been at this football club that’s the best performance for a number of reasons. We could have won six or seven nil.

“We created great chances and if you want anyone in the box Will Keane is the guy to finish it. Kayden does great down the line, he crosses it you think yep, it’s going to go in, then they go up the park and score and Judge hits the bar and the chances keep on coming and you think it’s going to be one of those days again.

“Then we get a goal which is more difficult than any of them and after that we were excellent the whole game.”

He said he thought Jackson was “unplayable” and also praised Judge for his touch in the conditions and his goals.

“We dominated the game and it’s just about taking your chances and we are only five points off first place and we are well in the mix that’s for sure,” Lambert added.

Meanwhile, Albion boss Nigel Clough felt his team were well beaten and believes his young defenders have to learn quick to cope with the strong teams in the division.

“We could not quite cope with them today,” Clough said. “I thought that Ben Garratt made three or four good saves and kept the score down well for us.

“We had a young back four out today and they have to learn and learn quickly, you can’t make mistakes.

“We are where we are as a team and came to Portman Road to give Ipswich a game and it’s an incredibly strong league this season.

“We are just outside the play-offs and when you look at the standard of the top six teams I don’t think we can match that at the moment.

“I am not writing it off totally. I think the league is incredibly strong.”