Town manager George Burley has praised last night's star Finidi George while Town's new man is pleased with how his first game at Portman Road went.

As fans sang a swiftly arranged version of Volare in praise of their hero, George Burley said: "Finidi's performance on the right-wing was probably the best I've ever seen since I've been watching football. We wanted a player who is intelligent and can take people on, and that's Finidi to a tee. He is a world class player and showed that to everyone against Derby."

Finidi himself didn't get the new song immediatley, but was helped out by his team-mates: "I didn't really understand it until my colleagues in the dressing room explained it and we had a good laugh about it. It is lovely here, I really enjoyed making my debut here at Ipswich. The whole team did very well and I am happy with the goals. It was my first game at home and the supporters were terrific. I enjoyed the game and getting the ball so much. I had four or five other chances to score, so maybe I was a bit unlucky not to get a hat-trick."

George Burley was impressed with his entire side: "Some of our attacking play was probably the best I've seen since I have been at Portman Road. With the amount of chances we created it is unbelievable that it stayed at three."

Town have a few injury worries after the Derby game. Fabian Wilnis limped off in the closing stages with a hamstring problem while Matt Holland picked up slight knock and Titus Bramble suffered an ankle problem.

Sixto Peralta is set to complete his long-term loan to Portman Road today. The Argentinian will be at Portman Road for a the season and should be in the squad for Saturday's game with Charlton.

Peralta is a versatile midfielder from Internazionale. Last season he had a spell at Serie B Torino last season. He has been training at Portman Road for the last week or so.

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls