Town boss Mick McCarthy believes striker David McGoldrick is getting back to his best after his long injury lay-off and August's transfer interest from Leicester City. The 26-year-old netted his sixth goal of the season from the penalty spot on Saturday as the second-placed Blues beat Leeds 4-1 at Portman Road.
McGoldrick’s 2013/14 was cut short when he suffered a partial tear to the medial ligament in his right knee in February and then underwent a cartilage operation in April.
Having spent the summer rehabilitating, he returned to action late in pre-season and came on as a sub and scored in the 2-1 opening day victory over Fulham. Just before the transfer window closed, the Blues rebuffed the Foxes' £7 million offer.
"I think he’s getting back to his best,” McCarthy said. "It was always going to be tough for him, he had a long injury and he also had the distraction of maybe making a move.
"It wasn’t that somebody just fancied him, there was a bid in and I’m certain that that had its effect. But the injury was the bigger effect on him.”
McCarthy says 13-goal Championship top scorer Daryl Murphy has more than played his part during the opening 20 league games of the season.
"What’s been nice, if his knee has affected him, we’ve had Murph who has been scoring goals and so he’s been taken out of the limelight a bit, which I’m sure he doesn’t like, he’d like to be in the limelight by scoring goals,” he added.
"But he’s been a willing and able assistant to the goalscorer, if you like, and the reality is, while I know it matters to them, it doesn’t matter to a team who gets the goals, so long as we do and we win games.
"And that’s what’s nice about Didz, he’s selfless in that way. He contributes to the team in other ways than just putting the ball in the back of the net.”
The Town boss says McGoldrick, who recently won his first Republic of Ireland cap, could have a stronger second half of season.
"Let’s hope so,” he continued. "He has been asked to play slightly differently. We’ve had three up front for a long time and he’s had to drift out wide and track back with the full-back on a lot of occasions.
"That’s probably taken some of his chances away but he’s done it and we’ve won games and he’s been part of the team that’s done that.”
He says other bosses have mentioned his strike pairing, who netted 29 times between them last year in addition to their 19 this term, and sees similarities with Burnley, who won promotion to the Premier League after finishing second in the Championship last season.
"We’ve a good striking partnership that is admired by other people,” McCarthy said. "If you speak to other managers after the game they’ll always be complimenting those two and saying they’re a good partnership, individually and as a partnership.
"So, it’s a good weapon to have. If you’ve got a team that works hard, is organised, is disciplined and keeps clean sheets and also has goalscorers, like Burnley had [in Danny Ings and Sam Vokes] last year.
"I remember their game here last season vividly. We were the better team for the most part of that match but they stuck with it, got back in the game, they got more into it and they had Scott Arfield, who was Jonny on the spot that day. And we couldn’t score.
"At the time, because it was early on in the season, I think people looked at them and thought ‘Are they going to carry on with that? Can it work all the way through the season?’.
"Well, it did, it worked perfectly for them, so fair play to them. And it’s similar here with us at the moment. But there are a lot of games to play yet.”