“A WEEK is a long time in politics,” according to Harold Wilson and the same could also be said of Ipswich Town at present.

After the failure to sign a replacement for Daryl Murphy as the transfer window closed and the comprehensive 3-0 home defeat to Derby, the mood around Portman Road last week was as low as it has been in some while.

But since then there has been a wholly unexpected and very welcome wave of positivity.

Having performed so abjectly against the play-off-pushing Rams, few had much hope that the Blues would take anything from Saturday’s home match against third-placed Reading.

But with manager Mick McCarthy making five changes, handing recent signings Emyr Huws and Steven Taylor their debuts and Toumani Diagouraga his home bow, Town were a completely different prospect and put in this season’s best Portman Road performance as the game ended 2-2.

Tom Lawrence continued his rich vein of goalscoring form, netting a brace which took him to ten for the season and eight in his last eight.

While there were terrace calls for Town to ‘sign him up’, even the most ambitious Blues supporter probably realises Lawrence is almost certainly going to be playing in the Premier League next season.

Huws and Diagouraga, on loan from Cardiff and Leeds respectively, totally transformed the Town midfield and the only thing which was missing was claiming all three points, Jordan Obita lashing in a 30-yard equaliser which 19 times out of 20 would have ended up deep in a stand.

Even so, the home crowd cheered their team off at the end and, for once, went home happy.

The upbeat mood was further enhanced by news that the U18s had won 3-0 at Bristol City and then on Monday the U23s, featuring new signings - Danny Rowe, Dominic Samuel and Kieffer Moore - and players returning from injury - Tommy Smith, Teddy Bishop and Myles Kenlock - pummelled their Watford counterparts 8-0.

Samuel, ineligible against his parent club Reading, netted a second-half hat-trick, former Braintree loanee Monty Patterson having grabbed a treble of his own before the break, while Moore scored once and Rowe put in a storming first 45 minutes before being replaced.

The disappointment of not landing the big signing, the much-anticipated experienced new striker for a seven-figure fee, rather coloured how Town’s transfer window business had been viewed.

It was seen as disastrous at worst or underwhelming at best with the players who came in unfairly overlooked or prematurely judged.

Certainly it looks somewhat better now with fans already starting to hope that Huws and Diagouraga might become permanent additions in the summer, something which isn’t out of the question with the duo out of favour at their current clubs.

Moore, signed from National League Forest Green Rovers, has made an impression from the first-team bench, and like Rowe, brought in from another National League side, Macclesfield, and Samuel - who also might be available on a longer term basis in the summer - certainly made a mark in the U23s.

Taylor, signed on a deal to the end of the season, showed his experience at the back against the Royals, while Jordan Spence could prove to be another addition to McCarthy’s list of astute free signings.

Of course, one swallow doesn’t make a summer but the prospects for the final months look rosier, even if the draw means the 16th-placed Blues are now only eight points off the relegation zone.

A week ago McCarthy’s departure at the end of the season appeared to be almost a fait accompli and the majority of fans would still probably welcome his exit.

But on the early evidence his January signings may have given him a chance of turning things around and winning back at least some of his detractors.

There also seems to be a growing acceptance that for all the frustrations about style of play and this disappointing season, McCarthy overachieved by finishing sixth and seventh in the last two campaigns given his budget, which is around 16th in the Championship.

The upturn in mood would be further enhanced if the Blues can take points from Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa, still unbeaten at home this season, although 14th and without a win in seven, and then second-placed Brighton on Tuesday.

Only a week ago there would have been little expectation going into the two games but now there seems rather more hope.