Town’s lack of clean sheets this season — just two from 11 games — is not a major worry as far as defender Christophe Berra is concerned.
The Scot has forced his way into Mick McCarthy’s startling line-up and has only been on the losing side once, in the 2-0 defeat at Wigan, in a six-game run that has reaped a healthy return of 11 points.
He said: "Obviously, as a defender, you want to have clean sheets and we had one against Brighton recently. But sometimes you have to sacrifice it and we are scoring more goals this year. That sometimes happens when you are trying to play a bit.
"I wasn’t here last season but the boys kept a lot of clean sheets as they ground out results. Maybe it was more backs-to-the-wall performances but now we are playing better football, creating more chances and trying to change our style of play a little bit, which the manager and TC are trying to get across to us.
"Sometimes you have to sacrifice a little bit but some of the goals we have conceded have been very disappointing, especially from set pieces.
"There are always going to be players out there who will make defenders make mistakes and it’s nearly always the case that the team who makes the fewest mistakes usually wins the game.”
When they travel to meet struggling Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend Berra & Co will be aiming for a first away win of the season, something he admits has been a talking point in the dressing room.
The former Wolves defender added: "A few people have mentioned it but we’ve played Wigan, Reading and QPR away — three top teams. We drew against Birmingham away, which we should have really won by three or four actually. We were the superior team.
"Obviously, the game at Derby on Tuesday was a great chance to get the three points but it was definitely a game of two halves. We’re disappointed but if you’re looking at Derby’s performance in the second half they merited a draw in the end.
"We should have done better but, as they say, that’s football and it happens to the top teams. It’s English football in general — no team lies down and that sort of thing can happen.”