Jonny Williams claims he can feel an extra buzz around the Town camp now compared to the feel-good factor he helped to generate last season.
Williams has rejoined on loan from Crystal Palace and would love to help the club improve on last term’s ninth-place finish by securing a top-six slot.
He said: "With the group of players we have now we have serious strength in depth at the moment. We’ve got Jack Collison, who has not even been on the bench yet but he’s a top player. There’s Darren Ambrose as well so that shows the strength in depth.
"Tommy [Smith] came back in on Saturday when Chambo was ill and he was fantastic, just like he was last year. He just slotted straight back in and it was a shame we didn’t get all three points.
"But I think we’ve got a real chance if we can carry on doing what we’ve been doing and not concede as many 90-minute goals because that’s killing us at the moment.
"I’ve settled in well and it’s just a pity that we have been so unfortunate in our last two games, although we’re still unbeaten in eight games so things are going well overall.”
Williams provided a boost over the final few months of last season and was delighted that the opportunity arose to return to Portman Road after a period of early-season uncertainty at Selhurst Park.
Eagles’ boss Neil Warnock used Williams in his starting line-up in Capital One Cup-ties against Walsall and Newcastle, while he also made substitute appearances in the Premier League fixtures against West Ham and Burnley.
But once Warnock decided a further period on loan would be the best option for Williams he was happy to make the move, adding: "To be honest I wasn’t too sure what was going to happen.
"It was just a case of going into games for Palace and seeing if I would be involved or would be going out on loan again.
"The most important thing at this stage of my career is that I play regularly and after my time here last season Ipswich seemed like the right move.”
Williams also shed light on his decision to opt for squad number 50, explaining: "There weren’t that many numbers available. I would have liked 25 but that was taken so I decided to double it. But if I come back again I probably won’t choose 75!”