It is unlikely that any Town player will be looking forward to this evening’s FA Cup third round replay at Preston more than stand-in goalkeeper Scott Loach.
While regular choice Dean Gerken is rested Loach is keen to seize the opportunity to help his side book a fourth round trip to face hometown club Nottingham Forest, a game in which he is also likely to feature.
Loach, 25, said: "I am really looking forward to it. A game’s a game for me at the end of the day and that’s what I need to keep improving.
"Goalkeepers need games and it could actually work out that if I play at Preston and we win, then play at Nottingham Forest, it will be three games in a month and that’s not far off the actual calendar of fixtures itself.
"I see it as another chance for me to shine, hopefully. You don’t know what can happen in football. God forbid, if anything happens to Gerks and I’m thrown in I’ve got to be ready and this match will keep me sharp and focused.
"I’m always thinking that anything can happen in football. When my time was coming to an end at Watford I turned up for the last game of the season thinking I wasn’t going to play. But Tomasz Kuszczak didn’t turn up because his wife had a baby the night before.
"It was an hour before kick-off when I was thrown straight in and I ended up having a really good game because, without trying to big myself up, I’ve always been taught that you never know what’s going to happen.
"You have to be professional and our fitness coach, Andy Liddell, makes a good point when he says that if you’re not professional you’re going to get nowhere in the game. Ability only gets you so far.”
Fate could intervene on Loach’s behalf and see him re-establish himself as Town’s number one but in the meantime he will continue to give his all as a key member of manager Mick McCarthy’s squad.
He added: "There’s one thing I would say about this club — whether it’s the effect the gaffer has had or who he has brought in, but the changing room atmosphere is up there with the best I’ve seen or been part of with regard to the banter, everyone getting on with each other and having a laugh.
"Even in training we have youngs v olds on a Friday morning. It’s a very good club to be at. Yes, it’s disappointing not to play but at the same time I don’t think I could actually be in a better place to come to work at every day.
"The atmosphere around the training ground is great and it’s just what we need. I think that’s why we had a lot of success over the Christmas period, because we all stick together.
"There have been a few games where we have not played brilliantly but we have ground out wins and that’s part of the mentality that has grown in the changing room.”