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Coventry had its lead at the summit cut to six points after Middlesbrough's thrashing of Hull City on Saturday (AEDT), but the Sky Blues were unable to regain their nine-point advantage.

Sindre Egeli curled Ipswich into a 43rd-minute lead after being found by Jaden Philogene on the edge of the box, and it got even better for the Tractor Boys on the hour mark.

A ball over the top of the Coventry defence from Marcelino Nunez sent George Hirst on his way, with the striker composing himself before finishing coolly beyond Carl Rushworth.

Coventry tried to reduce the arrears in the closing stages, but Ivan Azon sealed the win in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage-time after picking out the bottom-right corner.

Coventry's 3-1 win over Charlton Athletic last time out saw it reach 50 goals for the season in 18 games, the fastest a second-tier side has scored 50-plus in a campaign since Sheffield Wednesday in 1958-1959, but Frank Lampard's usually potent attack was unable to fire here.

"We were winning everything in the first half, the second balls were dropping to us, we were the team who had the real personality," Lampard said.

"Great organisation, work ethic off the ball, everything was great and we restricted them, and they get a goal from a bit of a mess at a corner. Then you've got a difficult job, but I still thought the players kept going.

"Three-nil; I don't like it, of course. I'm a bad loser, I hate defeats and I'll analyse them and maybe react to the players."

McKenna was delighted with what he saw from his side as it climbed into the top four.

"We showed quality with the ball and composure in the second half and belief to play through the pressure," he said.

"We defended well and counter-attacked well and I thought we were good value for it. We know where we're at. We're developing as a team, but there's still inconsistencies there that we're working through.

"But we know when teams give us space, whenever we have the confidence we know we can play really, really well and I also know that we can defend really well.

"We know we're capable of performances like that, but we also know it's a brutal, relentless 46-game league and it's about consistency and how you go after a good day and after a bad day, the strength of your mentality, it tests all those things."