Daryl Murphy has leapt to the defence of co-striker Frank Nouble as he finds himself the target of criticism from a section of the Town support.
Nouble partnered Murphy in last week’s 3-0 defeat at Leicester, the first game since 16-goal top scorer David McGoldrick was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a knee ligament injury.
Murphy said: "It’s tough. We know what Didzy can do and what he has done for us over the course of the season, but Frank came in and I thought he did quite well.
"The group of players we have now is what we’ve got until the end of the season and we have to cope with the loss of Didzy. We now need to start winning games and picking up points.
"Frank is similar to me. I think he’s more or less the same as what I do. He’s a big, strong lad and a lot quicker than what I am. He’s a handful and on his day he’s a very, very good player.
"I think he’s been unlucky not to get a run in the team but I think he’s got a chance now to show how good he is.
"I’ve heard some fans have been having a go but it’s hard for players, when they are only getting on the pitch for 15 or 20 minutes, to make an impact. I don’t think people understand that.
"You do need a run of games to get your fitness and confidence levels up, and just improve your game really. Obviously, he’s not had that but now it’s a chance for him to prove what we already know — that he’s a good player.”
Murphy disagrees that it might need a few games for his partnership with Nouble to gel, adding: "We’ve played together before so I don’t think that will be a problem. We train every day together so we know each other’s game and hopefully we can start scoring a few goals between us.
"Also, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has looked sharp in training. He had a setback on his debut against Preston and it took him a bit longer than he’d hoped to recover and get back to full fitness. But he’s back again and when he came on in the game last week I thought he did well.”