Mick McCarthy has no doubt that Elliott Hewitt will prove an able deputy for the “outstanding” Richard Stearman during this afternoon’s final home game of the season against Birmingham. On-loan Wolves man Stearman is set to miss out with a hamstring injury.
McCarthy says 18-year-old Wales U21 international Hewitt hasn’t let him down in his previous two starts at right-back: "He did very well, he brings a fair bit to it.
"He’s got that boundless energy and that willingness to go forwards, so there’s something a bit different he’ll add.
"But Stears has been excellent, he’s been part of that back five and I think his performances have been outstanding.”
The Town boss says he would have quickly accepted the current position going into the final two games of the season had it been offered when he took the job on November 1st: "That’s right, we would have taken this, certainly from November when I came in it would have been a position we would all have been happy about. And it is now.
"I wish we’d have been seven points clear and we could’ve all enjoyed it a bit more because we were safe, but it’s in our hands. We need to do something and not worry about anybody else.”
Had the Blues already been safe, he says he might have been able to give Academy Player of the Year Jack Marriott a place in the matchday 18: "It would have been great if we’d have been three or four games from the end of the season and we knew we were safe, but my view is that I’ve got to make sure that we are and pick the strongest team, so he’s not going to be involved in the squad.”
After the game the players will be take their traditional lap around the pitch to show their appreciation of fans' support throughout the campaign, something McCarthy feels is well deserved.
"We’ll be doing that, of course, and we do appreciate the support that we get,” he said. "I thought Chambo’s comments on Tuesday night [were notable]. The fact that they’d played 13 games and got seven points and hadn’t been booed off once is testament to the support that we get.
"It’s lovely. I guess other teams who come here will say it’s not the most hostile environment to come to and they like coming here, but we’ve had good support and good noise in the place.
"They appreciate their team. When they’ve done well they’ve shown their appreciation. The away fans have been terrific as well. We’ll show our appreciation after the game.”
He says he’s found the Portman Road crowd to be more realistic than some other clubs' followings: "Everybody wants to win, let’s clear that up. But there are levels of expectation. At some clubs they think there’s a divine right that they should be in the Premier League.
"It strikes me [fans here] want to be there just as much as anybody else but don’t think it’s a divine right. It’s almost like ‘If we’ve got a good enough team and we play well enough and we get there, then fantastic, we’ll enjoy it’.
"But it’s not because Sir Bob was here and he was great and had his great team. I don’t get the feeling that they are looking back and harping back to those days, the good old days, and we should be replicating that. I guess it’s different expectations.”