Town’s climb up the Championship has led keeper Dean Gerken to start looking at league tables again having avoided them while with his previous clubs. The Blues are in ninth, two points from the play-off zone.

The 28-year-old, who joined the Blues having left Bristol City in the summer after a spell at Colchester, said: “To be honest, with the teams I have been playing for over the past few years I have not wanted to look at the league but at the moment I do look.

“It doesn’t count at the moment, we still have more than half the season to go but I do look at the papers.

“The main thing is we come in each day and we enjoy what we are doing, and when you enjoy what you are doing with your mates around you.”

He sees no reason why the Blues shouldn’t be in the play-off shake-up come May: “We are enjoying what we are doing and we are getting results.

“I’d like to think we can make the play-offs but we have another six months or so to go, but at least we can be contenders, and at the moment we are contending well.

“That was my busiest game because the back four have been brilliant but Huddersfield are a good team and deserved their three wins in a row.”

After making only three Championship appearances for Bristol City last season Gerken is delighted with life at Town having played 15 league games on the trot since coming into the side at the end of August.

“To be playing football is brilliant,” he said. “Ipswich have resurrected my career and working with [Town goalkeeper-coach] Malcolm Webster has resurrected my career.”

Photo: Action Images

homer_123 added 11:50 - Dec 9 Good to see some positivity. We have a good shot stopped in Gerks.
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homer_123 added 11:50 - Dec 9 *Stopper! LOL
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ThatMuhrenCross added 12:06 - Dec 9 I think we've finally got ourselves a permanently contracted GOOD keeper in Dean Gerken - and I have to say he's surprised me. I was aware of his shot stopping ability - a 0-0 with Bristol City at Portman Road stands out most for me - but have always had question marks about his all round game. I do think he needs to be more decisive and command his area better, but as goalkeepers go, he's still relatively young. I think with game time and experience, he'll prove to be an excellent addition to our squad.

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Michael11 added 13:03 - Dec 9 I'm not so positive about him if i'm being honest. Very error prone and think he's one of the main weakness' in our team. He did well on Saturday with the penalty, but needs to be a bit more consistent. As mentioned previously, 28 years old is a good age for a goalkeeper so hopefully his best years are still ahead of him.
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NW10_Tractor added 14:07 - Dec 9 Gerks is a very good athlete and given more game time he will improve. His sharpness is spot on and its good when a keeper can catch crosses instead of palming them or punching them away. One of the better 'keepers in the league. People may say that there are better keepers in the league than Gerks, but if the back four work well, the keeper only has to clean things up and Gerks does this well.

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bluelady added 14:10 - Dec 9 im not fully convinced by him - his weakest point is definately when one on one with a player and some of this decisions he makes under these circumstances. HOWEVER i did think he had an outstanding game on Saturday, the penalty really wasnt his highlight as it was so poor, some of the other stops however were outstanding. I also could hear him screaming directions to his back four from where i was sitting which is good to hear - i think some of our keepers of late have failed to command the back line. IMO he is getting better each game, does have a mistake or two in him but TBH who doesnt. His distrubution most of the time is pretty intellegent and he dealt with a terrible back pass on saturday well too... so in summary he is growing on me!

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LankHenners added 15:16 - Dec 9 He made some great stops Saturday and has done so in other games. Unfortunately his decision making has let him down and he has made some mistakes. Hopefully with this run in the team he is picking up the confidence that is clearly being brushed off and around the team and can iron out his flaws. He is certainly getting better by the game and hopefully we can pick up in other areas of the team as the defence is looking incredibly solid at the moment (which makes me wonder why we don't have a very good clean sheet record).

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bluemikey100 added 16:13 - Dec 9 if he saves penalty from ex nwich player then hes the best for me lol
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Seasider added 17:33 - Dec 9 Wasn't sure about him at first but like Blue Lady he is growing on me.I wasn't happy with Scott Loach as he didn't command his box like Dean does and he is also more vocal. Think squad is almost complete;right side is attacked more by opposition as they see this is our weakest side;but with Veselli,Hewett,Chambers,Edwards,Taylor and the Villa loanee,Mick should be able to find a suitable permutation. If we play 3 at the back with wingbacks then Cressy who is a class act could fill the left berth;but not sure about the right. Think we only need a classy and quick midfielder who may cost money,but McGoldrick could fill this if we got somebody else up front (Marriott or that ex Wolves fella who Mick keeps in touch with);so all in all happy with way things are progressing at the moment especially as Mick has started to mix it up a bit.

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blueboy1981 added 17:47 - Dec 9 ......... basics of a damn good Keeper - I've said it before, and I'll say it again - What he needs is damn good Coaching. Do we still have it at this Club ???? - I'm not so sure we have the level that Gerken would benefit from, no offence to Webster intended.
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blueboy1981 added 17:50 - Dec 9 ...... we had it not so long back in the name of RHODES (Senior). That's a fact.
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blueboy1981 added 17:51 - Dec 9 bluelady - .... that's a really good post.
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hogster1970 added 21:25 - Dec 9 well like most on here i am pretty happy with gerks, there is still plenty of room for improvemnet how ever, one of my gripes is that when ball in hand when we are under pressure and you have the likes of cressy especially screaming for the ball he just waves the players up and hooves it down the pitch for some headering ping pong , and then the ball ends up down our end again, to me this is not construtive at all especially with clubs with a very good solid back four who will lap that up every day of the week, if you are facing a top team its best in my view if possible to release the ball quickly to catch the opposing team on the break, you can do that with cressy and hopefully with hunt down the left, and some inntelligant running from didsy and co and we could have some cracking goals from a break, we just dont enough of it in my view, it is a good leveler against better oppostion, the last keeper i saw do this for ipswich was begovic he was awsome at it,

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theobald1985 added 08:55 - Dec 10 NW10_Tractor one of the better keepers in the league? come off it!
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