Keeper Márton Fülöp says he's delighted that the Portman Road crowd is starting to take to his friend Tamás Priskin and named the striker as Saturday’s man of the match. Priskin, who scored his fourth goal of the season in the Carling Cup tie with Northampton, played an integral role in Jason Scotland’s opening goal against Millwall, then won the penalty which Grant Leadbitter converted in the second half.
Fülöp says he was never in any doubt that the 24-year-old, who was applauded off when substituted in the second half on Saturday, would eventually make an impression at Portman Road: "I always knew that Tamás has great potential. The fans really took to him against Millwall. He needs that bit of confidence to dare to do things and he played without any pressure and for me he was the man of the match.
"He’s gaining confidence with every game, that’s the same for everybody but especially him. He likes an arm around his shoulder. We get on really well, we talk a lot and I hope he will keep continuing scoring goals and giving assists.
"I think for the first goal it was Tamás’s cut-back to Carlos and he kept the ball well. Then he won the penalty, so he made a difference today.”
Priskin's first season with the Blues after his £1.7 million move from Watford was a difficult one and Fülöp says the Hungarian international duo talked often during this spell: "It’s nice to see the crowd warming to him. I was speaking to him a lot last year, he’s one of my best friends.
"It was tough on him when the team wasn’t doing so well. When you come to a new club you need a bit of time to get used to the club.
"I’ve been here two months but I feel like at home. Everybody’s made me feel very welcome, the fans, the players, the staff.
"For some players it’s easy to settle at a new club and for others it takes time. For me it was much easier because Tamás was here already and I knew Grant Leadbitter and Carlos Edwards from Sunderland and Gareth McAuley from when I was at Leicester. When Tamás came here he didn’t know anybody, so it was much easier for me.”
Fülöp jokes that he should be rewarded for his role in Priskin’s resurgence: "Perhaps that should be reflected in terms of wages!”
The 27-year-old, who joined Town from the Black Cats for £750,000 in the summer, is pleased that the Blues got back to winning ways after their run of defeats: "This week was much better than last week when we lost three on the bounce. Now we’ve won two back to back and I’m really happy with it. We’re 11th, that’s not great but I’m sure we’ll move forward. It was a win we needed very much.”
Fülöp felt it was important that Town got going in the opening period against the Lions: "The problem recently was that we’ve gone 2-0 down too easily in the first half of games. Today we weren’t a second half team, we were a 90-minute team, so that’s positive.
"[The bad run] wasn’t the end of the world, I’m sure we will have spells where we will win and spells where we’ll lose, that’s the Championship. We just have to be a bit more consistent than we were last week.
"It was two away games against two play-off teams, Watford and Forest I’m sure will be in the play-offs. But I’m happy we won against Millwall, so let’s talk about that.”
The one-time Tottenham keeper, who gained his fourth clean sheet of the season on Saturday, was grateful to his defenders for some dramatic late goal-line clearances: "That was brilliant. In a matter of 20 seconds Tommy and Gareth showed their determination and I had a bit of luck. The defence did really well. It’s nice to get a clean sheet and I hope I can get many more.”
Fülöp, who says he and the club’s medical staff are working on ways of preventing the stiffness to his back which caused him to miss the Watford match, feels loan midfielder Jake Livermore would have taken his late opportunity more often than not: "When we’re 2-0 up we can afford to miss chances. Jake was unlucky and I’m sure that 99 times out of 100 he will score.
"He’s a very good young player, he was probably a bit surprised by the ball coming back from the post. But that was the right time to miss it!”
Hungary head coach Sándor Egervári was at Saturday's game and was impressed with what he saw: "It was pleasing to see that both players were in the team and both performed well in the clash.
"Priskin assisted for the first goal and for the second the foul was committed against him for Ipswich's penalty. He was clearly the dominant player for his team and did much help his side win."
Fülöp has previously won 21 full caps, while striker Priskin has scored seven goals in 29 Hungary appearances.