Stoked-up atmosphere or not, Luke Hyam is determined to stay focused in Saturday’s derby clash with Norwich and not let the occasion get the better of him.

The often-fiery midfielder, who has collected one red card and 21 yellows in his 96-game first team career, admitted: “A few of my mates have been saying to me ‘Don’t get sent off’.

“We’ve all got to keep our heads because at the end of the day it’s just another game. We know it’s a derby and what it means to everyone, in terms of its importance locally, but we just want to get three points.”

It may hurt him to say so but Hyam reluctantly concedes that the Canaries deserve to be considered promotion contenders, regardless of the outcome at Portman Road on Saturday.

He added: “You’ve got to look at them that way, haven’t you? They’ve just come down from the Premiership so they’ve still got some top-quality players like Nathan Redmond.

“Plus, they’ve brought Lewis Grabban in and he’s scoring goals for them. You look at their squad and it has a lot of Premiership players in it. But we’re quietly confident that we can push for the play-offs this season and even have a go for automatic promotion.”

Once the visit of Norwich is consigned to the record books Town will start preparing for their visit to Derby County, beaten play-off finalists back in May and another team fancied to have a major say in this season’s promotion race.

Hyam said: “Derby were one of the better teams we played last season and since then they have signed some good players. They’ve also done well to keep hold of Craig Bryson and I think they’ll be there or thereabouts again this season.

“But it doesn’t matter who we are playing, we just have to concentrate on our game and how we play. We are more than confident that we can beat Norwich, Derby and the others who are expected to be challenging for promotion. We believe we can reach the play-offs or even go up automatically.”

Meanwhile, Hyam agrees former West Ham midfielder Jack Collison would be an ideal addition to the Town squad should manager Mick McCarthy decide to offer him a deal.

Collison, who was released by the Hammers last season, is currently training at Playford Road and featured for the U21 side at Lowestoft in midweek as he steps up his fight for full fitness.

Hyam added: “I’ve trained with him a few times now and I’ve also played against him a couple of times. From what I’ve seen of him he’s a very good player and he knows the Championship very well. He would be a great addition to the squad and the team.

“I know every player wants to be in the team but without a doubt you need competition for places. I think that’s the best way of making sure you get the best out of all your players, if there’s someone right behind you pushing to take your place in the starting line-up if you don’t deliver.”

Photo: Action Images

bluefeast added 07:12 - Aug 22 Tough game against an in form outfit with a far better squad than us. If we can keep the ball for a change we have a chance of creating goal threats. COYB
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BlueBhoy added 08:43 - Aug 22 We need dids and murphy in top form and Hyam to be playing the ball forward at every opportunity. No backwards and sideways balls if can be helped. Caairrrnn town.
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