Town boss Paul Jewell has confirmed that he’ll be looking to secure a new keeper on a permanent basis in the summer. This season four different players have worn the gloves with David Stockdale and Alex McCarthy having had loan spells cut short when they were recalled early by parent clubs Fulham and Reading.
Jewell says he doesn’t want a repeat next season: "We want to avoid that situation with temporary keepers. It’s been a tough one. We want to go with a permanent one next year if we can or if we get a loan make sure there’s no 24-hour recall.
"We are looking. We’re looking all over for players, and certainly we’ve been at the mercy of other people. It’s galling enough if our player gets injured, that’s part of football, but when the number two or three gets injured and they get called back, it’s far from ideal.
"I think this season has been a bit tough for the goalkeepers because we were always waiting for Stocky to get called back and now Alex has been called back.”
The Blues boss opted against adding another loanee before the deadline last month and is confident Arran Lee-Barrett and Richard Wright will be fine until the end of the season: "Arran and Richard are both decent goalkeepers. I’m not panicking because they’re playing.”
He feels it’s been a while since Town have had a recognisable number one, the last long-term regular having been Richard Wright during his second spell at the club: "If you asked me who Ipswich’s goalie was in recent years, the ones that come to mind are Wrighty, Craig Forrest, Kelvin Davis.
"Lewis Price has played, Shane Supple’s played, Arran’s played, so there hasn’t been one has been established [more recently].
"We all know who West Ham’s goalie is, everyone knows who Reading’s goalie is, for argument’s sake, so we want to get to the stage where our goalkeeper’s recognised and is an established number one.”
Jewell felt McCarthy, who went back to the Madejski Stadium last week, improved the more he played for the Blues: "I think Alex got better when he was here. It was difficult for him at first. He came into a team which was losing matches.
"He conceded after five minutes against Birmingham, then again in the last minute. He got better and he’s got a big future ahead of him I think, and he was growing into the role.”
Town’s third-choice keeper is US U20 international Cody Cropper, who has just returned to action having undergone knee surgery before Christmas: "Cody’s been injured for a long time. He’s been out for four months with his knee.
"He’s been training for a couple of weeks and has had a couple of games with the youth team. He’s the only other goalkeeper we’ve got really.”
He says a decision is yet to be made on whether 19-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season, will be offered new terms: "We’ll discuss that with the relevant people. He’s been injured for a large part of the season and I haven’t seen him in any senior game really, we’ve only seen him in training really.”
Jewell caught Cropper in action for the U18s in their 4-1 home defeat to Southampton at Playford Road yesterday afternoon.