Afterwards McCarthy revealed his delight by painting a colourful image.

“I come in here (to face the media) and try and be nice and calm, but I’m elated,” he said.

“I’ve got friends in my office and just went in there and shouted, ’You ”f****** beauty’.

“Then I walked out again and left them with it. My wife told me off for swearing in front of the grandchildren but she’s only seven weeks old!

“It was a huge result and a great three points. Teams don’t come much more in-form than Bolton.

“To be fair, we’ve done alright against the form teams – we’ve struggled against the likes of Barnsley, Peterborough and Bristol City.

“I don’t know why that should be, but we’ve certainly progressed. We’ve got better and become harder to beat.

“We had a really good first half.

“They had a spell in the second when they got on top, but when we changed our shape and stemmed the tide we deserved to win overall.”

Town’s eventual winner came two minutes from time.

Mercurial substitute Jay Emmanuel-Thomas worked his magic down the right and delivered a low cross to the feet of Edwards.

His first effort was blocked by Marcos Alonso, but he reacted quickly to drill the loose ball past Andy Lonergan.

The first period had undoubtedly belonged to Ipswich, with three golden chances going begging.

Edwards headed just wide and Andy Drury’s header was clawed away by Lonergan, after a great right-wing cross by David McGoldrick.

McGoldrick slid another dangerous delivery across the face of goal and Murphy slipped when he was about to pull the trigger.

The Irishman was then wasteful again six minutes into the second half, lashing over after a mistake by Zat Knight when he should have squared to McGoldrick.

Lonergan kept out another Murphy drive in the last few seconds, while Bolton could reflect on nothing more than half-chances, squandered by Chris Eagles and David Ngog.

Bolton boss Dougie Freedman felt his side had been “mugged”.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result,” said the Scot.

“It was a very hard-fought and physical Championship game. From the 60th minute onwards, I thought we were dominant in possession and created a few opportunities.

“We could have worked their goalkeeper a bit more, but we looked the more capable team towards the end and the most likely to score.

“We had the ball in the right areas, but were perhaps let down by the last decision whether to shoot, cross or control the ball in vital areas.

“To then get mugged at the end was very disappointing, but we mustn’t look back.

“We’re a match for anyone and there’s no doubt in my mind we can win another five games, especially playing the way we did today, to keep our season alive.”