Andy Cole scored his seventh goal in 15 games for Blackburn to steer the club out of the FA Barclaycard Premiership relegation zone.

The former Manchester United striker, a £7million buy from Old Trafford, signed off in style - he starts a three-match suspension on Sunday.

How much Blackburn will miss him remains to be seen - but against Ipswich he showed he has lost little of his scoring instincts.

Cole grabbed the second goal of the game after Damien Duff's wonderful solo effort.

Ipswich pulled a goal back through Marcus Stewart but they couldn't capitalise on it and slumped to their fourth straight defeat.

Blackburn made the running right from the off. They forced a corner after six minutes and Duff swung the ball in from the left. Henning Berg got away from his marker to get in a header that was deflected to Lucas Neill but again Ipswich held firm.

They looked short on confidence early on with Blackburn having the majority of possession.

They won another corner on the right after a dangerous cross from Hakan Unsal was only partially cleared. David Dunn delivered a low cross from the left but Ipswich managed to scramble it clear.

Blackburn opened the scoring after 19 minutes with a wonderful solo goal from Duff.

He picked the ball up on the left, cut inside and beat three Ipswich players before rifling a shot beyond Sereni from the edge of the area - giving the home side a massive boost in their quest to get out of the bottom three.

Ipswich were again forced on the back foot and Sereni did well to tip away a good effort from Dunn after a neat bit of skill by the young midfielder.

Dunn took the corner himself and picked out Yordi but the Spaniard's header was well wide of the target.

Blackburn were playing some nice stuff and Cole and Tugay linked up, only for the Turkish international's shot to finish well wide.

Alun Armstrong found the net for Ipswich after 39 minutes when Hermann Hreidarsson released him - but his effort was ruled out for an infringement.

Blackburn added a second goal in the 43rd minute thanks to another flowing move. Tugay released Dunn and he played the ball back into the path of Cole, who turned neatly and fire a shot beyond Sereni - who seemed slow to react.

Ipswich boss George Burley knew his side needed to get a goal back early in the second half if they were to get something out of the game.

But those two Blackburn goals seemed to have knocked the stuffing out of the small band of travelling fans, who had made the long journey from Suffolk.

They were very quiet at the start of the second half as the home side continued to pull the strings.

Duff, Dunn and Tugay were running the midfield and Ipswich hardly threatened Brad Friedel's goal.

But the visitors made the breakthrough in the 55th minute when Stewart pulled away to send a superb header over Friedel from a corner by Mark Venus.

The goal came out of the blue and the whole complexion of the game changed.

The Tractor Boys started winning a lot of 50-50 balls and Blackburn were beginning to look a bit vunerable.

Blackburn boss Souness decided to shake things up and brought on Mark Hughes to partner his former Old Trafford team-mate Cole with Yordi going off.

Duff skipped away down the left and delivered a good cross from the byline. Hughes got on the end of it but the veteran Welshman's header lacked both power and direction.

Ipswich were being forced back on the defensive again as Blackburn started to shake off the effects of that goal.

Ipswich keeper Sereni showed good reflexes to turn away a shot from Hughes inside the six-yard area.

McGreal, however, almost levelled the scores with a stunning effort that went into the side-netting.

But Ipswich could not get the goal they craved and remain in trouble near the foot of the table - they are now behind the victorious hosts.

Teams:

Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Johansson, Berg, Unsal (Taylor 82), Dunn (Gillespie 72), Flitcroft, Tugay, Duff, Yordi (Hughes 64), Cole.

Subs Not Used: Hignett, Miller.

Booked: Unsal, Neill, Flitcroft.

Goals: Duff 20, Cole 43.

Ipswich: Sereni, Makin, McGreal, Venus, Hreidarsson, Wright, Holland, Magilton (Peralta 56), Clapham (George 80), Stewart, Armstrong (Marcus Bent 57).

Subs Not Used: Counago, Marshall.

Booked: Makin, McGreal.

Goals: Stewart 55.

Att: 23,305

Ref: P Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent).