SAM Allardyce will let others declare Wanderers home and dry after condemning Ipswich to almost certain relegation.

On the day Leicester - beaten at home by Manchester United - were finally condemned and Derby - 2-0 losers at Southampton - were left just one defeat from the drop, the Reebok echoed to the strains of "The Whites are staying up!"

But the manager is putting the celebrations on hold.

"You can say it but we're certainly not," he said, refusing to tempt fate. "We have seen what can happen in the space of a few games.

"But we've turned the corner at home, I'm glad to say, with two wins on the trot and three wins out of our last four games - four in the last nine - and that is a great achievement when you are struggling in and around the bottom.

"Four wins in nine games says an awful lot for the character and talent of the team."

Allardyce compared the first half rout of Ipswich with the sensational opening day triumph at Leicester where a 5-0 victory served notice on the rest of the Premiership that Wanderers would be nobody's whipping boys.

But he hailed recent arrivals, Fredi Bobic and Youri Djorkaeff, as having added the star quality that has made all the difference in the latter stages of the season and can now feel vindicated in having committed so much time, energy and financial resources to bringing them to the Reebok.

Now he is determined to keep a close eye on his squad to guard against complacency over the remaining four games.

"Once the deadline past I've looked forward to staying with the lads a lot more rather than tripping all over Europe looking for players," he explained. "Now it's about maintenance, making sure they recover, keeping the lads going and making sure they are totally focused after the well-earned break they will get before we get their heads together for the Tottenham game.

"We mustn't have any complacency at all like Charlton have suffered and which has cost them four defeats on the trot. There is no way we can afford to rest on our laurels and even think we are safe at this moment in time.

"We've had good organisation, good commitment and workrate from the players and, most importantly at this stage of the season, we've minimised our mistakes. The only real mistake we had on Saturday was Anthony Barness at the end when he got caught in possession just outside the box, which resulted in their goal which, I am glad to say, didn't make any difference to the result whatsoever.

"It was a fantastic first half - as good as the first half at Leicester. We wanted an early goal which we got and, although I thought it was always going to be a tight game, we produced quality goals, quality finishing which gave us a great cushion and relieved the pressure on the players.

"I was worried as hell at half time, as always, that we might let the opposition nick an early goal that could possibly have changed the course of the game but our defending was excellent. We put eight, sometimes, nine men behind the ball and didn't allow Ipswich any space in and around our box and played the game out very well indeed.

"I was only a little bit sad that we just conceded a goal towards the end. I thought we were getting a clean sheet out of it because we defended so well.

"Nevertheless it was a fantastic result and Fredi's hat-trick was tremendous.

"It was a great day for us and now we can say we are nearly there."