Town may have failed to qualify for the play-offs but central defender Christophe Berra believes it has still been a successful season.
Berra and his team-mates will bring down the curtain on the current campaign with a home clash against Sheffield Wednesday, having dropped out of the reckoning for a top-six finish after taking just one point from their last three outings.
That came courtesy of a home draw against Bournemouth, with defeats in both vital away games — at Watford and, last weekend, at Premier League-bound Burnley — seeing their own promotion hopes evaporate.
Scottish international defender Berra, nearing the end of his first term at the club, said: "Obviously we wanted to go to Burnley and get a win but at least we know we have had a good season. We have just fallen short a little bit.
"The training has been good, it’s been enjoyable and it’s been fun. Now we want to win on Saturday, especially to send the fans away happy and looking forward to next season.”
Town boss Mick McCarthy may turn to some of the younger members of his squad for the visit of the Owls, with teenage striker Jack Marriott’s recent recall from a successful loan spell at non-league Woking suggesting he might feature at some stage.
Berra added: "I don’t know what the gaffer will do but Jack’s come back and scored four goals in a bounce game the other night. He has shown he can score goals and I’m sure that he and others will get their chance, if not on Saturday then in pre-season or next season.”
He insisted it would not be difficult to be in the right mood to face Wednesday, a team who are sitting in 16th position and know that victory at Portman Road is not guaranteed to see them finish any higher.
Berra said: "I think you’ve just got to be professional. As soon as you cross that white line you want to win the game and get three points. We’ll just be going out there to obviously enjoy it and, as I said, hopefully get three points, score a few goals and have an entertaining game.”