Mick McCarthy: "I've never doubted the character of the team"

Mick McCarthy has hailed Ipswich Town's "fantastic win" over Aston Villa, which put an end to his side's recent inconsistent form.

The Tractor Boys headed to Villa Park on Saturday afternoon winless in four Championship outings and fast sliding down the division.

Loanee Emyr Huws scored the only goal of the game inside the final 10 minutes to earn Town a narrow victory, and McCarthy believes that it was a just reward following another gutsy display from his charges on the back of a 2-2 draw with Reading.

"It was a great win, a fantastic win," he told reporters. "We played well last week, so it was a back-up performance and an even better result.

"I've never doubted the character of the team. Our quality has not always been great, but I think that's been better recently – and I think Toums (Toumani Diagouraga) and Emyr Huws have helped that in the middle of the pitch. They've been excellent. And the two lads up front (Tom Lawrence and David McGoldrick).

"Certain aspects of the team have been better. We've kept the ball better. We've always been good at disrupting others and getting the ball back. We've been better with it in the last two games."

Ipswich, now 13th in the table on 39 points from their 31 games, return to action in midweek with a trip to face automatic promotion chasers Brighton & Hove Albion.