Jewell: Drury Has Been Terrific - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Paul Jewell has paid tribute to midfielder Andy Drury for his terrific performances since he broke back into the side in January. The 28-year-old, who joined the Blues from Luton for £150,000 just over a year ago, scored a brilliant first home goal to complete Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Bristol City.

Jewell said: "I think he has been terrific since he got back in the team. He’s played with a freedom, he’s a good footballer and it was lovely to see him score a goal. I thought he was terrific but I thought the whole team from back to front was really good.”

The Town boss is delighted to see Drury impressing after he came close to joining loan club Crawley on a permanent basis shortly before winning his place back at Portman Road: "I think when we first signed Andy people raised eyebrows and when he first came I thought he did well. In his first full game for us against Portsmouth here I thought he was terrific.

"Then, for whatever reason, he didn’t get back in the team and he kept getting substituted. We had a chat at the start of the season and an opportunity came for him to go out on loan at Crawley and I think that shows you the benefit of players going out on loan rather than sitting on their backsides not playing.

"Andy wanted to play, he came back used to playing football and I think he’s been terrific since he’s come back and deserves huge credit.

"And also Luke Hyam," he added, "who was very unlucky to be left out against Bristol City.

"It was a big call, a tough decision for me. I decided, having watched him in training. Luke can count himself really unlucky, but Andy Drury was terrific.”

He says former builder Drury is showing the type of spirit he wants to see all through his side: "We want hungry players [throughout] the whole team and I think Andy is probably epitomising that, Andy and Luke.

"And Grant on Saturday showed how sharp he’s been in training all week. I thought it was a good all-round performance.”

Jewell also had praise for Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s first-half display: "Some of the stuff he does you just can’t coach. His link-up with Carlos, Chops and Lee Martin at times was fantastic.

"He obviously needs to be able to do that for the whole game and that’s something we’re striving to get him to do.

"In the second half, when he gets a bit tired, he tends to get a bit sloppy but he will get better at that.”

Having spoken about the punishments meted out to Jimmy Bullard and Michael Chopra for being late after their Newcastle nights out, Jewell revealed that another player had also failed to turn up on time: "Tommy Smith was late for training on Friday, five minutes late from New Zealand, so that’ll cost him a fine! I’m not joking, he was late for training because it was foggy at Heathrow,” the Blues boss deadpanned.

"I think he showed his commitment and the lad who plays for Bristol City, Chris Wood, who flew back with him, they decided to rest.

"I spoke to Tommy on Friday and he trained fine. I asked him how he was on the morning of the game and he said he was fine and I think he deserves a lot of credit.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand Football's chief executive Grant McKavanagh has outlined his organisation’s position regarding last week’s club-versus-country dispute over Smith’s fitness: "We talked to Tommy about it, and it wasn't so much of a case of us invoking the five-day rule but we wanted him to come out.

"We understand the clubs' positions, they pay the players' wages. And we don't want to burn any bridges now with some important games down the line. But the five-day rule is there, the clubs know about that, and if it comes to it we're able to use it."

Photo: Action Images

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