Town boss Paul Jewell says it’s important not to heap too much pressure on striker Connor Wickham, despite his undoubted talents. Wickham, who is away with England's U19s this week, netted the best goal of his Blues career so far in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Sheffield United.
Jewell said: "It’s important not to put too much pressure on him. Everyone wants to talk about Connor Wickham, he’s got huge potential, he’s got all the tools in the box that you need to be a top class footballer. I have to be really careful not to put too much on his very young shoulders.”
The Blues boss says he has spoken to the 17-year-old about his use of him as a wide midfielder since he took over at Portman Road a month ago: "I had a long chat with him this week and I said to him that I know he is a centre forward and that that’s eventually where he will play, but he’s doing a great job for the team at the moment.
"He’s doing so much work tracking back and it’s an education for him because it’s another string to his bow.
"If he goes away with England and they play a 4-3-3, he’ll have to do that with England. We all know he’s a centre forward really, but I think he’s adapted to the role we’ve asked him to fill really, really well. Certainly defensively he’s been brilliant.
"Both him and Lee Martin keep on changing positions. They can both carry the ball well and it was just a brilliant goal.
"It was a great goal and he deserves a lot of plaudits for it, and so do the team for winning three games in a row.”