Town midfielder Jay Tabb is as chatty as they come — except when asked to assess his own form during the early part of the season.

It’s a subject he would rather avoid, politely declining the opportunity and reluctantly explaining: “I don’t really like talking about my own form.

"It’s one of these where if you start kind of bigging yourself up then in your next game you have a shocker and everyone’s on your back.

“It happened last year when I got back in the team and did alright. Then I spoke about my own form and it went tits up. I’m just enjoying the fact that I’m in the team and we are doing well.

"I think I’ve done alright and I just go out and do what the manager asks me to do.

“Yes, I’ve done alright but there’s plenty of competition for places. The manager puts me on the left, tells me what to do and I do it. If that gets me in the team, great, but if not then I’ll just get on with it.”

Tooting-born Tabb, 30, is fast approaching a half century of appearances for Town, having arrived on a free transfer following his release by Reading at the end of the 2012/13 season and after impressing during a nine-game loan spell from the Royals.

He takes a pragmatic approach to life, adding: “When I’m not in the team I just think that being a footballer is probably the best job I could have. You can’t just have 11 players who play every week, you’ve got to have a squad of 20 to 25, and while 11 play the rest are all fighting for the places on the bench or to get into the team.

“It’s one of those things really and you just have to get on with it. When you play you’ve got to appreciate it and try to keep your place and when you don’t you just have to realise that you’ve still got a good job. Train hard and you’ll get your chances.

“The great thing about our squad is that if the manager leaves people out they don’t sulk. They just get on with it, then when he does ask them to play or come on for 20 minutes they do well and make an impact, which has happened in the last two games. It’s nice to be playing at the moment but I know we have a strong squad and anything can happen.”

Tabb is ever-present in the Championship this season and shared the delight of Town fans at the 100 per cent points haul from the home games against Millwall and Brighton.

He added: “Brighton on Tuesday was a tough game. You look at the two fixtures we have had and with Millwall making a great start to the season it was a great win to beat them.

“The Brighton game was really tricky, probably a different kind of match for us because Brighton like to pass it around.

“They always have done and even under a new manager it looks as if they are carrying on in the same way. Their players were crossing over from here and there, so we had to be strict and keep our shape, which I thought we did really well.

“The manager was happy with us at half-time and spoke about a few things then we went out for the second half and carried it on. We managed to get two late goals, which I thought we deserved, and I felt we deserved the win in the end.

“For the first 20 or 25 minutes or so Brighton kept the ball really well but when we got into the game we got a couple of corners and had a few little chances. It came to life after that and it’s always nice playing the evening games under the lights at Portman Road.”

Photo: Action Images

ipswichtillidie added 18:24 - Sep 19 A model pro as Mick said but in my view a useful squad player and not someone we should be looking at as a regular starter. Just doesn't offer enough threat going forward for me to warrant a regular spot.
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blue_steele added 18:27 - Sep 19 one of the dullest players in one of the dullest Championship's teams
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Alwaysablue added 01:33 - Sep 20 I will just be pedantic and point out it's Henshall, not Henshaw. But for me Tabb is a squad player, who yes doesn't do a lot wrong but he also is very one dimensional, would prefer pace and flair on the wing.
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