Boss Mick McCarthy says 10-goal top scorer Daryl Murphy is worthy of all the attention currently coming his way after his terrific start to the season.
"Murph’s really a really good guy and he’s deserving all the plaudits he’s getting because he does work hard, he works bloody hard," McCarthy said.
"When he was the supplier of them, the grafter who went and played wide left and was up and down the pitch and did that shift, he always did it but he didn’t get his goals.
"Now he’s doing all the work and he’s getting his goals as well. That’s what makes it stand out, of course.”
Murphy, the Championship's joint-top scorer along with Derby's Chris Martin, has reached 10 league goals faster than any Town player since Ray Crawford in the 1968/69 season.
The Irishman netted his ninth and 10th goals in Town’s 16th match - his 15th as he missed the Blackburn fixture - of the season, Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Wolves, while Crawford reached the same total after 12 games of the 1968/69 campaign.
Previously, Crawford (1960/61 and 1963/63) and his equally legendary strike partner Ted Phillips (1961/62) hit the 10-goal mark after only 11 matches, a club record.
Prior to this season Marcus Stewart was quickest to the 10-goal mark in the 2000s, getting there in 17 games of Town’s UEFA Cup-qualifying 2000/01 Premier League season.
McCarthy is pleased that Murphy and strike partner David McGoldrick are increasingly viewed as amongst the division’s best, alongside duos such as Watford’s Troy Deeney and Matej Vydra.
Murphy and McGoldrick, who has scored five this campaign, have netted 15 goals between them this season, while the Hornets pair, who are at Portman Road this afternoon, have managed 11 with Vydra top scoring on seven.
"It’s lovely that ours are getting recognised at that level because Deeney and Vydra are a real handful, although they’ve been playing three strikers up front with a guy called Odion Ighalo or Fernando Forestieri, they’ve been mixing it up,” the Town boss said.
"It’ll be interesting to see who does play. I think Deeney missed out the other day but I’m sure if he’s fit he’ll be playing.”