Ipswich swept aside basement boys Sheffield Wednesday to strengthen their bid to make a swift return to the Premier League.

Cedric Kipre headed them in front to settle the home fans' nerves at Portman Road before Jaden Philogene and Jack Clarke scored to lift Kieran McKenna's men up to third place.

The Tractor Boys have moved to within five points of second-placed Middlesbrough in the race for automatic promotion.

Liam Cooper pulled a goal back for Wednesday, but Henrik Pedersen's side are now 30 points below the Championship survival line following two separate points deductions.

Owls fans are desperate for some pre-Christmas cheer, with former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley among those bidding to bring the club out of administration.

Ipswich nearly gifted Wednesday the lead when Dara O'Shea was robbed by Jamal Lowe and his shot was cleared off the line by Kipre.

The home supporters were not happy and their mood nearly worsened when Liam Palmer lobbed the ball just over the bar from Christian Walton's poor throw-out.

Ipswich rallied and Marcelino Nunez headed just wide after Wednesday goalkeeper Pierce Charles saved Jens Cajuste's shot and Philogene saw a scissors kick hit the post.

The Tractor Boys made the breakthrough on 33 minutes when Kipre rose to head home Leif Davis' corner from close range to the relief of the home crowd.

Ivan Azon, who replaced the injured George Hirst early on, glanced a header wide before Philogene made it 2-0 on the hour.

Cajuste drove from deep and found Nunez, who slipped the ball to Philogene at the near post and he scored his eighth goal of the season, all at Portman Road.

To their credit, Wednesday kept going and Cooper rifled home when Ipswich failed to clear Barry Bannan's free-kick.

But Ipswich bagged their third three minutes from time when Azor Matusiwa intercepted the ball and Clarke applied the finish.

It might have been four, only for Charles and Gabriel Otegbayo combined to deny Azon in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:

"It's good to get the win, it's good to get the three points. The first half, we weren't great. It was a tense performance. We got the first goal from a set-play, but we knew at half-time we had to play better and I thought for most of the second half we did that.

"It's another lesson in how the game is and it's not over at 2-0. We eased off for a few moments, they got their goal from a set-play and the game was alive again.

"It was a bit nervy, but then we got the third goal and it was over.

"There are lots of lessons to learn in there and there were bits where we played well, bits where we didn't, bits we managed and bits we didn't manage so well. There's lots to take from it. We'll take the lessons and move on."

Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pederson told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"The big picture, I'm so very, very proud of how we attacked the game. I thought our first half was one of the best halves we have played.

"We had fantastic energy, fantastic intensity in our pressing. We spoke earlier in the week about how we want to be a team that presses high up the pitch and I thought we combined intensity with compactness. I'm really, really proud.

"We created chances and it was positive. Of course, they had the ball a lot, but we worked hard for each other and that was really, really good. Yeah, I'm proud of the performance."