George Burley must relish the prospect of playing Leicester City at Portman Road.

The Ipswich Town boss has happy memories of facing the Foxes, even before yesterday's vital win which lifted his side off the bottom of the Premiership.

His First three points as Blues manager came courtesy of a 4-1 routing of the Midlanders in January 1995.

Then, the following year, Leicester were humbled 4-2 as Ipswich just missed out on the First Division play-offs.

More recently, Town guided themselves past the supposed 'safety mark' of 40 points with a 2-0 home win last January.

Now his side have recorded another notable victory. This latest triumph helped them leapfrog their troubled visitors and lift them off the bottom of the Premiership.

What a difference a week makes.

Seven days ago Ipswich were being written off as relegation certainties, given virtually no hope of clawing their way out of the top flight's bottom three.

But, coming on the back of Saturday's shock 2-1 win at Spurs, there is suddenly cause for renewed belief at Portman Road.

Not that that looked the case for 45 minutes yesterday.

Until half-time, this was a forgettable, largely sterile affair between two sides seemingly nervous about their perilous league positions.

Then Ipswich came to life, taking the game by the scruff of the neck and continuing their momentum after the break.

Two goals in the space of ten second-half minutes turned the contest on its head.

And the double strike represented landmarks for two recent arrivals, Marcus Bent and Sixto Peralta.

Both opened their goal accounts thanks to the vision and creativity of Martijn Reuser.

First, the Dutchman robbed Lee Marshall of possession down the left before swinging a cross to the far post.

His delivery was just too high for Alun Armstrong but Bent - a £3m capture from Blackburn - was lurking at the far post to head past Ian Walker.

Seven minutes later it was 2-0. Reuser played the ball forward to Peralta, racing into space inside the box.

The Argentinian back in the side along with Armstrong and Titus Bramble, replacing John McGreal, Jermaine Wright and Jim Magilton pulled a low, left-foot shot across goal and inside the far post.

The goal provided a much-needed cushion for Ipswich and relief for the players and supporters alike.

And they were good value for their lead.

In defence, Mark Venus again stood out while Hermann Hreidarsson and Chris Makin were never troubled down either flank.

Matt Holland was prominent in midfield, as was Reuser, while Bent looked a useful target man, holding up play exceptionally well.

The striker had a gilt-edged chance to score in the first half, a rare highlight of the opening 45 minutes.

Finidi George arrowed in a cross from the right but Bent's far-post header was smothered by Walker.

Reuser's 25-yard free-kick flew narrowly over but the only other chance of the half fell to former Ipswich striker James Scowcroft.

Only six minutes were on the clock when his low volley from inside the box was pushed round the post by Matteo Sereni.

Inside the opening seconds of the second half, Scowcroft also saw a header brilliantly saved by the Italian.

That, in terms of attacks, just about represented the end of the road for Leicester.

From Ipswich's point of view, the goals were preceded by a low shot from Armstrong, saved by Walker, while in the closing stages Reuser again drew applause.

Substitute Richard Naylor burst into space down the right before seeing his low cross partly headed away by Matt Elliott.

The ball fell to Reuser but his drive flashed inches wide of the left-hand post.

Two minutes later, the Dutchman saw a curling 20-yard free-kick narrowly clear the bar.

The final whistle was met with more chants from the home supporters of 'we're not bottom anymore'.

Now Ipswich need to make sure that's still the case after they face Sunderland at Portman Road on Saturday.

Published Thursday December 27, 2001