Ipswich climbed into the automatic promotion places in the Sky Bet Championship following a 2-1 victory over struggling Oxford.

Their victory came via first-half goals from leading scorer Jaden Philogene and Chuba Akpom, while Will Lankshear replied for the visitors.

Ipswich moved a point above Middlesbrough after they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Derby, while Oxford remain three points from safety.

Northern Ireland international Ciaron Brown was left writhing in agony after a challenge from Sindre Walle Egeli in the fifth minute but was able to continue, however the Ipswich forward was lucky not to be shown a yellow card.

• Got Sky? Watch your EFL team on the Sky Sports app
• Not got Sky? Stream your EFL team with no contract
• Live EFL on Sky Sports+ & how to watch | Get more EFL to your phone with WhatsApp

Town took a deserved lead in the 17th minute when Philogene scored his ninth goal of the season.

It came after Jens Cajuste robbed Bulgaria international Filip Krastev. He fed the ball to Philogene who danced his way into the penalty area and fired a shot into the bottom corner past helpless Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming.

The visitors suffered a setback in the 22nd minute when Tyler Goodrham suffered what appeared to be a knee injury and he was replaced by Siriki Dembele.

Shortly afterwards, Darnell Furlong appeared to be pushed over the perimeter wall by the Oxford substitute, who was the first player to be cautioned by referee Will Finnie.

Philogene spurned a wonderful opportunity to extend Ipswich's lead when Leif Davis pulled the ball back from the byline into his path but he shot over the crossbar moments before Lankshear drew the visitors level in the 34th minute.

Przemyslaw Placheta, who scored the winning goal in the reverse fixture at the Kassam Stadium last month, surged forward and found Dembele who slipped the ball to Lankshear and he spun and netted past Ipswich keeper Christian Walton.

Town retook the lead through Akpom five minutes before the break.

Furlong's run from deep ended with his pinpoint cross finding the Town striker who deftly slipped the ball past Cumming.

Marcelino Nunez's shot from almost 30 yards saw Cumming dive to his right to deflect the ball clear as the half drew to an end.

Brian De Keersmaecker should have drawn the sides level after 51 minutes when he beat the challenge of Dara O'Shea but fired wide and the Town defender then had a bullet header cleared off the line by the Belgian midfielder.

Cumming palmed a shot from Nunez over the bar and later dived to his left to acrobatically turn away a 25-yard free-kick from the Chile international.

Oxford were growing into the game, putting the Town defence under pressure, but the Tractor Boys managed to hang on for the three points.

The managers

Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:

We're happy to get the win. It's coming in a really busy week for everyone and you have to appreciate it even more.

"I thought we certainly did enough to win the game but without doing everything that we probably wanted to do to be honest.

"There was some good football played, some good moves through the pitch but I didn't think we had an edge to our performance to go and kill the game or to guarantee a clean sheet.

"We're a little bit frustrated by those things but you have to temper that by the fact that we're in the middle of an incredibly busy schedule this week and Christmas week but probably since November, so there's some challenges in there…you have to appreciate the three points."

Oxford's interim head coach Craig Short:

"I wanted a performance from the players. Today, coming to a team in form, you are fearful, you're fearful that the lads might just, if you have a setback, go under.

"It was all about defending, being patient, trying to get a mid-block right and then I knew if we had an opportunity, I know we've got threats, but when we conceded I said to the lads 'it's going to be a big test for you, how are you going to respond?'

"I was really, really pleased how they responded in getting the goal. We started to get on the ball a little bit and confidence seemed to grow with them and I know with a place like this, full of expectation, they are going to blow us away but we didn't get blown away and that's what I was pleased about."

Win £250,000 with Super 6!

The £250,000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.