Town boss Mick McCarthy has dismissed the suggestion that the Blues have joined the Championship promotion push largely unnoticed. Saturday’s 1-0 win at Charlton saw Town climb to second in the table just a point behind leaders Derby.
"I don’t get that we’re flying under the radar,” McCarthy said. "When people speak to me, nobody ever says ‘How are you doing, Mick?’. Most people say ‘You’re doing all right, you’re doing fine’.
"People are well aware of where we are in the league and the results that we’ve had, so I don’t think we’re sneaking under the radar, but I think there are others who are fancied far greater than we are.”
He says debut goalscorer Noel Hunt and his brother Stephen have been on the end of a fair bit of banter from the rest of the squad since Saturday's winning goalscorer joined on loan on Thursday.
"Straight away, the two of them," McCarthy continued. "They’re really good characters the Hunt sisters, they’re fantastic. They’ve had all of that, the lads have been getting stuck into them.
"They love it, they’re two good characters. I did ask Noel whether he was as daft as his brother and he said he didn’t know, so we’ll wait and find out.
"But if he’s as effective as his brother and if we get to love Noel as much as we do Stephen we’ll be all right, won’t we?”
McCarthy says the addition of the younger Hunt increases his options: "It adds a bit of competition for places as does Sean St Ledger.
"It’s nice when we’re doing OK to add some fresh faces, it’s easier to bring them in and integrate them.”