Town boss Mick McCarthy says there was nothing he could say to console centre-half Piotr Malarczyk after last week’s 2-1 FA Cup replay defeat at Portsmouth, the Pole having conceded the penalty which led to the first goal before being sent off for two bookable offences in the second half.
"I said ‘Come on Peter, let’s get on the bus and get on with it, mate’,” said McCarthy. "I remember being a player myself and there’s no consoling of that.
"But I’ve seen him this morning and he’s fine. He’s got to get on with it. There’s nothing you can really say to somebody.”
The 24-year-old joined the Blues in August from his hometown side Korona Kielce where he was the club captain and had made 131 senior appearances.
But his Town opportunities have been limited with the Portsmouth match only his third start, all of which have come in cup games, in addition to three league appearances from the bench.
McCarthy says the former Poland U19, U20 and U21 international will have found that frustrating but that he can’t have too many complaints given the form of the players in front of him.
"I think players are always frustrated at the lack of opportunities but they can only get irked by it if there’s somebody in front of them not playing particularly well,” the Blues manager said.
"But if they’ve got Chambo, Tommy, Christophe and Jonas, who have been outstanding, then you’ve just got to wait your time.
"And I think it’s as plain as the nose on my face how important those four are to the team.”
McCarthy says Malarczyk will have a role to play during the remaining months of the season: "He’s one of our players like all of them.”
The other centre-half at Fratton Park was Paul Digby, who was making his second appearance for the Blues - he also started the first game against Portsmouth - having joined on loan from Barnsley until the end of the season with a view to a permanent switch.
The 20-year-old former England U19 and U20 international has played most of his football as a central midfielder but McCarthy views him as a centre-half and the Blues boss was happy enough with his performance against Pompey.
"Reasonably pleased, for a lad that’s playing on the left-hand side and he’s right-footed,” he added. "What I like about Paul Digby is that anything you ask him to do he endeavours to do it to the best of his possible ability.
"He listens and he learns and he wants to do it and I think we’ve got a chance with him, to be fair.”