Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has lavished praise on Cole Skuse after the midfielder found the net during his side's 3-1 win over Cardiff City in the Championship.

The Tractor Boys boss said that the 29-year-old has progressed significantly in recent months and hailed him as a permanent fixture on his team sheet.

"I think Skusey, over the last two or three months, has taken his performance to a different level," Sky Sports News quotes McCarthy as saying. "His strike was very special and we needed it at the time as they had a good period in the game after scoring.

"But it was an emphatic strike while he also had the presence of mind to put in [Daryl] Murphy in the last minute. Ever since he walked through the door, his name has been inked on the team sheet and it is a great time to start scoring."

The win bolsters Ipswich's playoff ambitions, leaving them in sixth place in the league table.