Cole Skuse scored his first goal for Ipswich since 14 April 2015
Ipswich extended bottom club Bolton's winless Championship run to eight games with a victory at Portman Road.
After a drab first half, Ipswich took the lead when Cole Skuse's shot from 25 yards took a big deflection and beat goalkeeper Ben Alnwick.
Gary Madine, Filipe Morais and David Wheater had chances for Bolton, but they could not beat Bartosz Bialkowski.
David McGoldrick poked home to make it 2-0 as Ipswich responded to successive league defeats with a win.
Ipswich had lost their previous two matches to QPR and Fulham, but came up against a side yet to even lead a match in the Championship this season.
However, it was the visitors who had the better of a quiet first half, with Madine and Craig Noone both having shots on target.
But their fifth successive league defeat was confirmed in the second half when Ipswich were rewarded for turning up the pressure.
Skuse's first goal for 17 months was followed by bright play from Manchester City loanee Bersant Celina, who twice went close before McGoldrick finished from Joe Garner's flick-on to move the Tractor Boys into fifth.
Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy:
"A great result, a fabulous result. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that we were brilliant.
"They are a good side and they are a handful with well-worked Championship players. They were far better than us in the first half and we were lucky to get away with it.
"We had to defend and be belligerent and I decided to change it at half time, it wasn't working they were doing better than us."
Bolton Wanderers manager Phil Parkinson:
"I thought we were in parts excellent and created a lot of chances and a deflected goal just after the break was a crucial moment.
"But even after that we got in some good positions to get a goal back and we have had 16 or 17 attempts, only three or four of them on target and obviously that stat has got to be better.
"We're hurting because we haven't got a win but all we can do is keep concentrating on the process at training and then getting the preparation right and that win will come.
