He may not have played a great deal of competitive football but new Town loanee Conor Sammon insists there are no doubts about his fitness.
Sammon, signed from Derby on a season-long deal, not only completed the Rams’ entire pre-season programme but was also involved in a number of warm-up fixtures.
The nine-cap Republic of Ireland international said: "I’ve done everything at Derby. The manager there was very good. With the pre-season games he spread the minutes amongst all the players in the initial part so I got plenty of game time, as well as good training, under my belt.
"I didn’t miss any sessions so I feel physically strong and now it’s just about getting that match sharpness, which comes from playing in competitive games, like on Saturday at Reading and hopefully at Birmingham as well.”
Sammon cost Derby a fee of £1.2 million when he joined them from Wigan in August 2012 and he has scored 13 goals in a total of 89 appearances, of which 49 have been starts.
The Rams were beaten in last season’s play-off final by Bobby Zamora’s last-gasp goal for QPR, with Sammon an unused substitute, and he added: "It was a bit of a cruel kind of ending to what was a very good season at Derby.
"When the new manager [Steve McClaren] came in he really put his own stamp on things. He got us playing a certain way and we got a real winning mentality, if you want to call it that, which led us to the play-offs and to Wembley.
"On the day we were probably the better team but football’s a cruel game, as was shown that day. It’s in the past now, it was a great experience, so I’m just looking forward to the future now.”
Like most, if not all, Town signings Sammon is impressed by his new club, adding: "Ipswich is a massive, massive club. I’ve always seen that from playing against them during my time at Derby.
"They have great facilities — nice training ground, good stadium — and they look like a really good bunch of lads here. Not only on the pitch, but off the pitch, they seem like a really good group.
"They have made me feel welcome right from the word go and I’m looking forward to settling in and getting to know them even better.”
Photo: ITFC