Carlos Edwards agrees beleaguered boss Paul Jewell probably needs to steer Ipswich to victory over former club Derby tomorrow if he is to have any chance of saving his job.
Anything less than three points will hike up the pressure on Jewell, although another of his previous employers, Sheffield Wednesday, are in town at the weekend and that is the fixture that could ultimately determine his fate.
Town skipper Edwards said: "There is extra pressure on him, maybe to pick the right team to start the game and make the changes.
"Deep down inside the players know what they should be capable of and I think you may see a different team in the sense of the extra effort that we were lacking on Saturday.
"Who’s to say that we can’t win? Any game is winnable in this division once you are on top of your game. We are creating chances and once we start to capitalise and punish teams everything should be smooth sailing.”
The Trinidadian right-back recalled the extraordinary events of Saturday when Ipswich led at Hull only to eventually lose 2-1, a result that had Jewell admitting he would take the weekend to consider his Portman Road future.
Edwards added: "To be fair we were all disappointed. The last thing we wanted to hear was that he had admitted he was looking at his position and whether he was the right man for the job.
"Any manager in the situation that he is in might have said the same thing. The pressure is on and obviously for him to keep his job the results do have to change.
"As players we need to try to help that situation and at the moment we’re not. We felt for him and we are disappointed in ourselves that we are not getting the results that he knows we are capable of.
"The guys were obviously down in the dumps after the result at Hull and we need to get that game out of our system as fast as possible. We now have two home games coming up and we hope we can turn things around.”
Does Edwards think there is a danger that Jewell’s after-match remarks at the KC Stadium could have a negative effect on team morale?
He said: "It depends on how the guys take his comments. At the end of the day we are paid to do a job — to not just play football but try to entertain the fans and give them something to smile about when the final whistle goes.
"To dwell on what the gaffer is going through at the moment we’re not in the position that he is because all fingers are going to be pointed at him. A few could be pointed at players who are not performing to the ability that they have but we just have to hope we can go from strength to strength and help him out of the situation he is in."