Ipswich climbed up to third in the Championship with a 3-1 win over rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday at Portman Road.

Cedric Kipre, Jaden Philogene and Jack Clarke were on target for the hosts, with Liam Cooper pulling one back for the beleaguered Owls.

The victory moved the Tractor Boys two places up the table after a defeat for Millwall and draw for Preston earlier in the day.

Crisis-club Wednesday, who have been docked 18 points this season but are seemingly moving closer to a takeover, did not look like a team at the bottom of the table as they offered a series of threats throughout.

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Town went close to taking a fifth-minute lead when a cross by Philogene found George Hirst, who headed narrowly over the bar.

But a minute later the Ipswich striker had to receive treatment after he appeared to suffer a groin injury and was replaced by Ivan Azon.

Kipre came to the rescue for Ipswich when he cleared the ball away from close to the goal-line after Jamaica international Jamal Lowe lobbed goalkeeper Christian Walton.

A misplaced throw by Walton to full-back Leif Davis presented an opportunity for Bailey Cadamarteri which he spurned before smart play between midfielders Jens Cajuste and Marcelino Nunez almost led to the opening goal of the game for Ipswich.

Former Norwich man Nunez fed the ball to the Swede, whose shot struck goalkeeper Pierce Charles and rebounded back to Nunez, who was only able to head the ball wide.

But Town took the lead in the 33rd minute following a corner.

After Philogene had struck a post with an acrobatic bicycle kick, Kipre rose high from the resulting corner to power a header into the net off the underside of the bar.

Ipswich made it two in the 60th minute through leading scorer Philogene's eighth goal of the season.

Cajuste's mazy dribble through midfield ended with him playing the ball into Nunez, who then passed it on to Philogene to fire a shot firmly past Charles.

Sindre Walle Egeli should have made it 3-0 after Nunez robbed Harry Amass.

Nunez found space down the right and squared the ball to the Norwegian, but his shot was deflected wide by Charles.

Wednesday found a way back into the game through Cooper in the 70th minute when he fired into the bottom left corner following a corner.

There were further chances for Ipswich through Azon, Egeli and Kasey McAteer before substitute Clarke made the game safe in the 87th minute.

He picked the ball up in midfield and advanced into the area, skipping past Gabriel Otegbayo and slipping the ball beyond Charles to wrap up the three points.

The managers

Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:

"The two halves were different really.

"The first half was certainly a lot of tension in the performance. I thought the first 10 minutes were pretty positive and we had a chance with George (Hirst) and then we made a couple of mistakes to bring them back into the game.

"There was a succession of set-plays that they have the ball where we don't want it to be, close to our goal, and we struggled to get rhythm and confidence in the game at that point and it was a tense first half.

"Good to get the goal from a set-play. Really good for Cedric and for the group and of course that puts us in a good position going into half-time.

"We knew we had to play better in the second half and I thought we did and I thought for the most part we played really well, created lots and lots of big chances, should have had more goals."

Sheffield Wednesday's Henrik Pedersen:

"I am really, really proud. To go to Ipswich, I think they are the best squad in the league, and to give a performance with this courage, this belief, this discipline, with this togetherness, then I can only be proud.

"How we played first half, it was one of the better halves we have played this season.

"Second half it was a tough period, but we are coming back after (going) 2-0 (down), we stayed together and had courage for our press and had courage to play with risk, but to beak a team down like Ipswich you have to play passes with risk and this cost us two times today."

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