Town new boy Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is ready to launch his Portman Road career and add to the competition for places in manager Mick McCarthy’s first team, according to fellow Blues frontman Daryl Murphy.
The ex-Wolves striker, who will make his debut in Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie at home to Preston, is sure to keep the other forwards on their toes.
Murphy has featured in every one of Town’s 24 league fixtures this season — 21 starts and three appearances from the bench — but still welcomes the fact that Ebanks-Blake is on board.
The 30-year-old said: "Sylvan has been looking sharp in training. As everyone knows, he has just come back from a bad injury and needs to build up his fitness but he’s been looking good.
"As far as I’m concerned he makes an already good squad even better. We’re a close-knit squad as well, which is a good thing. There are not too many players and we’ve got great competition for places.
"You have to do the very best you can or you know the gaffer will change it and someone else, like Sylvan for example, will take your place.
"The current squad is the best I have known in my many spells at Ipswich. It’s a good mixture of players, two for each position and even more strikers, so it’s definitely healthy.
"We’ve been playing a 4-3-3 lately and I’ve played in that system in the past for the gaffer. Frank and I have been playing wide of Didsy in the middle and we change any time we want.
"It’s quite flexible and the three of us tend to rotate quite a bit and leave Didsy in the middle as much as we can. I think it’s worked out quite well for us.
"We’ve always had competition anyway from Tayls and the other lads. Jack Marriott’s doing really well on loan and Frank has got in the team.
"Sylvan’s arrival means extra competition but it’s good for the team. It can only benefit us knowing we have a player of his quality ready to come in. It should spur us on even more.”
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