Ryan Stevenson is confident that he will benefit greatly from his first pre-season training programme as an Ipswich player.
The attacking midfielder, who cost £50,000 from Hearts in January, has clocked up 11 appearances and one spectacular goal so far but believes that next term will provide him with the opportunity to show what he can really do.
Eight of his outings have been as a substitute and his start at Doncaster on Saturday, which yielded that goal, was only his third since crossing the border into the English game.
Stevenson, 27, says he’d benefit from a run of matches but with the season ending last Saturday has now run out of time: "I would need five or six games because it’s been a long time since I played consecutive games.
"Unfortunately for me it is probably coming at the wrong time, at the end of the season. It’s been good, obviously, to get a couple of games and now I’m looking forward to having a rest and then returning for pre-season training. I want to get a good pre-season under my belt and then kick on from there.”
Stevenson turned his back on Hearts after the Edinburgh club failed to pay their players’ wages on time, basically going on strike in protest at something that was a regular occurrence during his time at Tynecastle.
His firm stance meant solo training sessions at his home town of Troon in Ayrshire and he makes no attempt to deny that he is still playing catch-up in the fitness stakes.
He added: "When you haven’t played for so long you can come in and train as much as you want but nothing really sets you up for games.
"It’s effectively five and a half to six months that I haven’t played. When you come back in you are trying to get up to speed but it can take four or five games to get back into the swing of things.
"It’s disappointing from that point of view but since I came here we have been on such a good run. I’ve managed to be part of that, even from the bench, and that’s been nice.
"It’s the sharpness and the confidence in my touch that have been missing. Usually, you do things naturally but when you haven’t played for a while you tend to over-think things.
"I’ve been out injured before and come back from a lengthy absence. Now it’s about getting back in July and getting games under my belt in pre-season and then trying to force my way into the team.”