Town keeper Bartosz Bialkowski will make it three successive league appearances when he faces promotion rivals Watford at Portman Road on Saturday and has made it clear he will be reluctant to step aside when Dean Gerken is fully fit again.
The Pole’s big chance came a week ago at bottom club Blackpool when he made his league debut after Gerken was injured in the warm-up, which left manager Mick McCarthy without a keeper on the bench as Bialkowski marked the occasion with a clean sheet in his side’s 2-0 win.
Until then the 27-year-old keeper’s only senior outing since leaving Notts County and signing a two-year deal at Portman Road had come in the Capital One Cup first round tie at Crawley, who triumphed with the only goal scored in extra time.
But despite having to wait almost three months for another first team opportunity Bialkowski insisted he was not caught by surprise and that he was ready to make the most of his chance, however unexpected the circumstances.
He said: "I was waiting for quite a long time to be fair but when I got my chance I managed to stay fully focused and concentrate on the game. I only found out on Saturday 30 minutes before the game that I was playing, which meant I didn’t have much time to think about it to be honest.
"Maybe it was better that I heard so late. Sometimes when you find out you are actually playing it is the day beforehand and you are sitting there trying to think about the game and playing it in your head, so I think it was much easier for me. I just had to focus on my game and performance.”
There were no nerves on Tuesday when Bialkowski made his home debut for Town in the 2-1 win over another top six side, Wolves, and he added: "I didn’t have that much to do but a win is a win and that is the main thing.
"I am quite experienced now and I just enjoy playing football. I love the game and I just couldn’t wait to play at Portman Road. Having now won both the games I have played in I couldn’t be any happier.”
Bialkowski would have marked the occasion with a second successive clean sheet but for James Henry’s rather fortuitous goal for the visitors, when his ball into the box eluded everyone and crept inside the far post.
He said: "It was a dangerous ball into the box and I just had to wait. I couldn’t gamble. Players from both sides came across the flight of the ball, trying to get their heads to it, and I had to take a step back and wait for the ball.
Unfortunately it went in but I was so pleased when Murph scored a few minutes later, both for him and the team, and of course the supporters too.”