Aaron Cresswell is happy to stay put at Portman Road — in more ways than one.
Not only is he settled at Ipswich, he would also like to remain in his favoured left-back position rather than follow skipper Carlos Edwards and switch to an advanced midfield role.
Edwards and the team are benefiting from his move, with on-loan Blackburn defender Bradley Orr settling in well at right-back, but Cresswell would rather not follow his captain’s example.
The former Tranmere man was pushed forward for the final 20 minutes of the 5-0 defeat at Crystal Palace a month ago but is happier in his more usual role.
He said: "I prefer to play left-back. Lee’s been playing wide left and he’s been doing well. Carlos has been excellent for us up and down the right wing, the same with Lee on the other side.
"Lee’s great to play with. He’ll graft in every game and the stats say he is one of the players who does the most running. He’s very good going forward and very good defensively so it helps my game a lot.”
Another aim of Cresswell’s between now and the end of the season is to improve his success rate from set pieces.
He laughed: "Believe it or not, before I came here I used to score now and again from freekicks, but it hasn’t happened here. I’ll still keep taking them though.”
Meanwhile, Cresswell was delighted to see team-mate Michael Chopra net a late winner at the Reebok last Saturday — only the striker’s third goal of the season and his first in exactly three months.
Cresswell said: "Chops has had his ups and downs but it was great to see him put that one in. He nearly got a second goal just after it but unfortunately it didn’t go in. Yes, I’m pleased for Chops.”
Another source of satisfaction for the former Tranmere player has been the way Tommy Smith has re-established himself alongside Cresswell in Mick McCarthy’s starting line-up.
He added: "The last few games, Tommy’s been excellent. Both him and Chambo, in fact the whole back four, and Hendo as well. Tommy’s done really well. He’s been travelling a lot lately and he was a bit unfortunate not to play against Leicester but these things happen in football.”