Frank Nouble has admitted his surprise at being named in the starting line-up for the midweek home win over Blackburn.
Striker Nouble, whose late goal in a 3-1 win was down to a mixture of perseverance and his running ability, is now hoping he has done enough to warrant a run of several first team games.
Manager Mick McCarthy would appear to have a straight choice for Saturday’s visit of Huddersfield, whether to stick with Nouble or recall Daryl Murphy to slot in alongside top scorer David McGoldrick in attack.
Nouble said: "It did surprise me. I didn’t know I was going to play against Blackburn but with us having a lot of games in a short space of time I knew I had to be ready, mentally, if selected.
"It is rare for the manager to make as many as four changes and particularly to a winning team. But he has confidence knowing he can change it and that the boys coming in will do a good job.
"I don’t feel under any extra pressure when I start a game. I just want more than 10 or 20 minutes, which I’ve been getting when I’ve been coming on.
"People say you should make a difference but it’s hard because you don’t always get what you want in the last 20 minutes or so.
"You might be coming on and you are helping the team to defend, stuff like that. It was a bonus to get so much game time against Blackburn and hopefully I made the most of it.”
Nouble’s appetite for running has endeared him to the Town fans, who are no different to supporters of other clubs in that they appreciate a player who is clearly devoting maximum effort to the cause.
He smiled: "You’ve just got to keep running, haven’t you? Keepers get scared and for the one on Tuesday I just gambled. You never know when it’s going to pay off.
"I’ll gladly take 10 of these goals every year if the chances come to me. I’m not really bothered how the goals come. One thing I will continue to do is run.
"Even if we’re not playing well you will still see me running. I wasn’t like that as a kid but when you are playing in a league like the Championship, or even lower, it’s different.
"You think about the hard work involved in trying to win games and it comes naturally. I’m lucky that I’ve got that as part of my game.”