The home side kicked off attacking the River End goal and, after five minutes, Jon Otsemobor fired in a shot which landed on the roof of the net, although it never looked to be causing Wright any problems in the Town goal.
The next threat to the Ipswich goal came from Leroy Lita when his header from David Bell's corner was well turned over the crossbar by Town keeper Richard Wright.
Norwich did most of the attacking with Croft causing problems for his marker David Wright, who faced a match long battle with each other which led to Wright being booked.
It was half-an-hour before Ipswich threatened the Norwich goal when Owen Garvan's corner was headed over by centre back Alex Bruce with the Republic of Ireland boss watching.
At the other end, Sammy Clingan's goalbound shot took a deflection and hit the top of the bar, but referee Lee Probert angered the home fans by giving a goal kick.
In the 45th minute Lita's deft touch put Pattison through, but his shot went straight at Richard Wright, who was by far the busier of the two keepers in the opening 45 minutes.
Ipswich started the second half on the front foot and David Marshall did well to keep out a shot from Jon Walters in a one-on-one situation, although the Town striker really should have scored.
City weathered Town's pressure and, in the 57th minute, Lita set up Wes Hoolahan, but the former Blackpool midfielder could only hit his shot inches over the crossbar.
On the hour Croft collected the ball from Pattison and let fly from some 25 yards with a superb right-foot shot which beat Wright high to his left. Lita then fired into the side-netting after being released by Croft.
Ipswich substitute, Danny Haynes, had a header saved by Marshall as the visitors began to enjoy a fair share of the possession at last putting pressure on the Norwich back-line which had a relatively easy day.
With eight minutes left on the clock. Norwich were awarded a free kick which sparked Leroy Lita to decide to take charge of the match and point out to the referee that Town defender Gareth McAuley had blood on his face. McAuley was forced from the field to clear the blood.
With McAuley still off the field, Bell drifted in a well-flighted free-kick from the left wing, Gary Doherty got his head to the ball at the far post and it fell kindly for Pattison whose right-foot shot hit the back of the net with considerable force incensing the Town fans following Lita's sportsmanship.
It was not to get any better for Town fans with a dreadful tackle on Alex Bruce late on not even resulting in a free kick, let alone the deserved yellow card. Bruce struggled to his feet eventually to rejoin play but was obviously in pain.
Referee Probert capped an awful display in the dying minutes after waving play-on after home keeper David Marshall clearly took down Danny Haynes who was running in on goal. to condemn Town to a 2-0 defeat at Carrow Road, and to cap yet another poor refeering display in Norfolk at Town's expense.
However the referee alone was not to blame for the 2-0 defeat, and on the balance of play Norwich deserved their win. Town created very little all game, and on this display have a long way to go to climb the table and achieve their ultimate aim - promotion to the Premiership.