A town with one foot in the Premiership by the time tomorrow's games are over - that appears to be the mood among the people of Ipswich ahead of this weekend's vital fixtures.

George Burley's men are three points clear of City following their midweek victory over Stockport and entertain bottom club Crewe tomorrow.

The Bantams, meanwhile, travel to QPR and Mel Henderson of the Ipswich Evening Star says the town appears confident of their side's automatic promotion hopes.

He said: "The mood is certainly one of confidence with the fans expecting Ipswich to win tomorrow while QPR make it difficult for Bradford at Loftus Road. Opinion suggests the side will have one foot in the Premiership by 5pm tomorrow.

"Ipswich played QPR a few weeks ago and know how desperate they are for points so many people are expecting Bradford to slip up.

"The midweek win was a bit nervy against Stockport but the important thing is the side has the three point cushion while the games keep running out."

Ipswich slipped to a rare defeat at Bolton last weekend when Wanderers put their awful recent form behind them with a 2-0 win.

Town feared the worse when they came off the field at the Reebok Stadium only for news to filter through of Huddersfield's shock 3-2 win at Valley Parade.

Henderson said: "It would be difficult to find anyone now who does not think Ipswich are nearly there. The result at Bradford last week was a massive one.

"When you lose a game, you need the results to go for you but no-one really expected Huddersfield to get anything out of the game.

"There was a time when most people in Ipswich agreed that Bradford had the easier run-in. About seven games ago, I looked at both club's fixtures and predicted how many points they would get before the end of the season.

"I ended up predicting that Bradford would go up and took a lot of stick down here for that. But now I look at the fixtures and, all of a sudden, Bradford have the hardest final three games with QPR and Oxford both fighting relegation while Wolves need points to get in the play-offs."

Ipswich play Crewe tomorrow before travelling to Birmingham on Sunday May 2 for a game which will be featured live on Sky. Town's season will finish with a home clash against Sheffield United.

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