IT was a scramble, untidy, it was late – but that mattered not.

What did was Nikola Zigic’s determination to force in the decisive goal in the first minute of stoppage-time.

It provided Blues with yet another dramatic victory at the death and took them up to fringe of the play-off zone in the Championship.

One of their important games in hand, Blues simply had to make it count.

And although it was hard going and attritional stuff, Blues doggedness and willpower came to the fore and came good.

Zigic, who opened the scoring and was too much of a handful all night for Ipswich, ensured that the ball squirmed past Alex McCarthy from just a few yards distance after Curtis Davies stooped to help on a David Murphy throw.

It was more or less a last roll of the dice for Blues, who seemed destined to be thwarted.

Marlon King’s thunderbolt thudded back off the post and Ipswich should have had a penalty before Zigic did the trick.

A fast, agenda-setting start was required by Blues – and they got it.

Ipswich gave the impression of being down at heel.

And Paul Jewell, a year and a day into the job, has been under a fair bit of pressure in East Anglia.

So Blues had to seize the initiative and they did just that, nine minutes in.

A long, looping throw from the left into the penalty area by Murphy was met by Zigic at the front post.

The lanky striker got in front of Ibrahima Sonko and flicked the ball on and behind him, and his action seemed to catch McCarthy and the defenders around him napping.

The ball bounced and went in off the far post, providing Blues with the perfect opening.

Blues gained more confidence from it and threatened to follow up with another.

But Ipswich levelled in the 18th minute through a stunning strike by Lee Martin and the whole complexion of the first-half changed.

It was a touch fortuitous in one respect as McCarthy, under pressure to clear his lines from Carlos Edwards’ back header, put his foot through the ball and skewed it towards the halfway line, on the right.

It came to Martin perfectly and he then embarked on a determined run, over 50 yards or so, and suddenly defence was turned into attack, and the consequences were devastating.