Blues boss Paul Jewell has praised the professionalism and hunger of midfielder Luke Hyam. The academy product was widely viewed as Town’s man of the match during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Blackburn.
Jewell admits that Hyam hasn’t had too many first team chances since he took over as manager but says he has been impressed with his attitude: "He’s a great professional, hungry and he probably just hasn’t had an opportunity under me, being honest.
"But at the moment, himself and Mass, making his [league] debut in a game like that against Dickson Etuhu and Danny Murphy, [are in the team].
"I said to them yesterday, ‘When you look at the teamsheets, what’s exactly the same?’. We’ve got the same amount of players as them.
"We can’t look at names or what people have done in the past. We respect that, but when you get out on that pitch, you’ve got to go and play for the shirt and that’s what all the lads are doing.”
The Blues boss was pleased with Hyam’s contribution to Town’s equaliser: "It was a good ball in for the goal and I think he’s just got to have a little bit more confidence in himself, which will develop as he plays more games. We’ve got competition in there and we want to provide competition right throughout the team.”
Last season Jewell said there was more to the 20-year-old’s game than just sitting in front of the defence, something that pass appeared to illustrate: "I think you can pigeon hole people at a young age so they become a ‘defensive midfield player’. Midfield players when I was growing up used to have to defend and attack.
"I think these days you have all these fancy systems where someone’s either a holding midfield player or he’s an attacking midfield player. Why can’t he do both?
"He’s not going to score lots of goals but I think he’s got more in his locker than he’s been given credit for. And he’s getting better, and he’s young.”
Blues legend Mick Mills, at the game summarising for Radio Suffolk, was also impressed with the former Northgate High School pupil’s contribution: "Luke Hyam was the best player on the field, he was excellent. In a match where Danny Murphy was in action, Luke gave the sort of display that you would have expected from a player of Danny’s experience and quality.
"His distribution was first class, his energy level was top notch and I felt the young lad was an inspiration to all around him. Ipswich have a top quality young player, judging by what he did in that match.”