Town goalkeeper Scott Loach has admitted he could be forced to consider a future elsewhere.
Loach is set to play in tonight’s FA Cup third round replay at Preston but it will be only his seventh senior appearance of a season in which he has given way to Dean Gerken as the club’s number one.
He played in the 1-1 draw between the sides at Portman Road 10 days ago but is adamant that his love for Ipswich, the team he followed as a youngster, will not be allowed to stand in the way of career progress.
Asked if he would consider asking for a move, or to depart on loan so he could play regularly, 25-year-old Loach responded: "It’s a tricky question because I love the club and I want to play.
"I want to be the gaffer’s number one but there is a stage at some point where you do need to play games. I’m quite fortunate so far that I’ve managed to play a lot of games but there’s only a certain period of time you can go without playing before you kind of settle into that number two role and that’s not really what I want.
"We’ll have to assess it over the next couple of months and see where they go. It might be a chat we need to have in the summer but at the minute my main focus is that I hopefully get a game in the replay and then put in a performance that gives the manager a problem.”
The former Watford and England U21 keeper started the current campaign as Mick McCarthy’s first choice changed after Town lost three of their first four Championship fixtures and Gerken was instead given the nod.
Loach added: "When I’m 40 and retired I’ll look at the shirt on the wall and I’ll be able to say I played for my boyhood club. It doesn’t matter if I’d played one game or 100 games, no one will be able to take away the fact that I played at Portman Road and fulfilled my dream.
"Obviously, the club means a lot to me but so does my career at the end of the day and that’s the main thing in my eyes. If I have to move on it has to be right for everybody as well.
"I won’t just move for the sake of it. Anything can happen in football and, you never know, I could be in and play the last 20 games of the season. I’m ready for any outcome.”