After giving up a two-goal advantage to draw with Shrewsbury Town last weekend, Derby opened the scoring in their midweek away meeting with second-placed Plymouth Argyle, however, they were unable to hold onto their narrow lead, conceding two second-half goals as they slumped to a third consecutive away defeat.
The Rams head into the weekend in the final playoff position, and they are four points clear of seventh-placed Wycombe Wanderers, who have a game in hand.
Derby will now turn their attention to Saturday’s contest where they will attempt to complete a league double over Oxford after recording a 1-0 home victory when the two sides met on the opening day of the season.
Ipswich, meanwhile, have put together a strong run of form over the last four weeks, accumulating 13 points from a possible 15 available and winning each of their last four league games without reply in the process.
Within the space of four days, the Tractor Boys won two home games and scored seven goals, thrashing Burton Albion 4-0 last Saturday before securing a comfortable 3-0 victory over Accrington on Tuesday, courtesy of strikes from Nathan Broadhead, Kaydenq Jackson and Kyle Edwards.
Kieran McKenna’s side, who have only lost four of their 35 League One matches this season, are on the cusp of securing at least a playoff spot, but moving into the automatic promotion places or even winning the title cannot be completed ruled out as they sit only five points behind Sheffield Wednesday at the summit and Plymouth in second.
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Only Sheffield Wednesday (31) have picked up more points away from home than Ipswich (30) in the third tier so far this season, but the Tractor Boys have endured a difficult period on the road in recent months, winning just one of their last eight away games in all competitions.
Ipswich now face a challenging run of five successive fixtures against teams inside the top nine of the League One table, and success over Bolton is not guaranteed this weekend having failed to win their last three league meetings with the Trotters, including a 1-1 home draw back in July
While the U’s are currently battling to remain in the third tier, Derby are aiming to finish in the top six, but their progress has slowed in recent weeks.The Rams have won only two of their last seven games, and they have had to settle for a point from their last two fixtures despite taking the lead in both matches.
