George Burley is sweating on the fitness of Andrew Surman after a fifth defeat in five returns to Portman Road.

Saints boss Burley revealed that Surman suffered a thigh injury before being replaced in the 88th minute.

Surman had an outstanding first half alongside captain Youssef Safri in central midfield and Burley is now hoping he is fit for the trip to Leicester on Saturday.

Nathan Dyer failed a late fitness test last night and Saints are also without several experienced defenders.

Burley said: "Nathan's hopefully not too bad but Andrew Surman got a whack on his thigh and hobbled through the second half."

The Saints boss hopes to have Inigo Idiakez back for Sheffield Wednesday's visit to St Mary's next Tuesday but last night's performance showed that the returns of Wayne Thomas and Darren Powell are more of a priority.

Burley said: "We're without three centre backs and two full backs.

"Unfortunately that's life and we have to get on with it. But we need key players fit.

"Hopefully Alexander Ostlund, Darren and Wayne will be fit within a couple of weeks.

"Claus Lundekvam and Chris Makin are more long term but hopefully Inigo will be fit within a week or so."

Burley was pleased with the performance of Adam Hammill, who made his first start since September 22 last night.

"Adam did some nice things and will gain from the experience," said the Saints boss, who is experienced enough to know that last night's result was reflective of the season's contrasting fortunes for Saints and the club with which he is synonymous.

He said: "The first goal was important and when things are going for you, like it is for Ipswich, you score goals like the deflected one they got.

"We had opportunties at 1-0 down but didn't take them and then Pablo Counago punished us and it was a long way back from that.

"We passed it well and played some decent stuff at times without creating too much. After scoring plenty of goals at the beginning of the season, we're now hitting the woodwork or the keeper is making a save."

However, Burley remains positive. He added: "The normal scenario in this league is you're right up there if you string some wins together and, with 28 games left, there's everything to play for."

Ipswich boss Jim Magilton said: "We had to dig in and can be better and, I hold my hands up, we were lucky with the first goal.

"I was going to throttle Billy Clark before Jon Walters deflected the ball in. We've been working on a set piece routine but that went out of the window when Tommy Miller, an experienced player, passed it for Billy to shoot!

"Both teams kept giving the ball to each other and the team that showed more quality was always going to win.

"That bit of quality came from Gavin Williams. The crowd really lifted us at times but it was a professional job in the end. We can't play free-flowing football all the time but we've kept the ball rolling."

Spanish striker Counago, one of three former Burley signings in the Ipswich ranks, was delighted to score the second goal.

He said: "It was important because, after that, the game was over."