Fit-again midfielder Lee Bowyer admits it has been frustrating having to make do with a place on the bench since recovering from a groin injury.
The vastly experienced Bowyer, signed on a free transfer from Birmingham in the close season, last started a Championship game on January 2 when he was crocked just 42 minutes into Nottingham Forest’s 3-1 win at Portman Road.
Since being given the all-clear to return to action he has clocked up three substitute appearances, taking his Town tally of first team outings to 24, from which he has scored twice.
Bowyer, 35, said: "I’m a professional and I love to play football. But I know the way it works. If the team are doing well there is nothing I can do but watch and admire what they are doing.
"There is no ‘i’ in team. I just have to sit there, be patient and wait for my chance. Then, if I do come off the bench, I’ve got to do my best to impress and earn a chance to start that way.”
Former England international Bowyer dismissed the notion that he might be the type of player to sulk or go knocking on the manager’s door when he found himself out of the starting line-up.
He went on: "I’ve never done that. I’ve always known that whoever is doing well stays in the team. You don’t change a winning team — okay, maybe for tactical reasons sometimes — but there have been times when I have played and others have not been happy.
"That’s football — that’s just the way it is. I’ve never reacted in that way and I never will. It’s a squad game and you’re going to pick up injuries and suspensions. It’s inevitable and people who are not playing will get back in.
"Look at Michael Chopra. He went for a long time when he wasn’t starting. But look at him now — he’s in and he can hardly stop scoring.”
Bowyer agrees Ipswich have acquired a greater mental strength during their current run of just one defeat in nine outings.
He added: "That has been the case, especially in the last few games. Earlier on in the season we would probably have lost or maybe drawn the games we have won, whether we have come from behind or whether the other team has equalised, like Peterborough did a couple of times on Saturday.
"We’re showing a different side to our character now and we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”