Ipswich midfielder Andy Drury believes he is now entitled to regard himself as an established Championship footballer.
Plucked from non-league Luton Town in a £150,000 deal in January last year, he was manager Paul Jewell’s first signing for the club and by his own admission took time to adjust to life in English football’s second tier.
But his performances in the current campaign, after returning from a 15-game spell on loan to Crawley Town in which he scored four times, confirm he has found his level several steps up from where he once was as a part-timer.
Drury, 28, may have been on full-time terms with the Hatters but it isn’t so many years ago that he used to combine playing for the likes of Sittingbourne, Gravesend & Northfleet, Lewes and Stevenage Borough with a day job on assorted building sites across the South-East.
A measure of how settled he feels in the Championship is that he has no concerns that he will soon be entering the last year of the 30-month deal he signed when he arrived at Portman Road.
Drury, who has netted twice in 18 appearances for Town this season, said: "Having played nearly 20 games I like to think I have shown this is a level where I am comfortable and look as if I belong, although I want to achieve a lot more than I have so far.
"At the moment I want to play as many games as I can through to the end of the season. People say next season is a big one because it will be the last year of my contract but I’m not even thinking about a new deal for the time being.
"I just want to keep playing and improving. I would love to stay at this club for a few years to come and I realise the only way that is going to happen is if I keep performing to the required standard.”