Cole Skuse has confirmed that he and his Town team-mates are desperate to eliminate the memory of a rock-bottom display against Rotherham when they take on Wolves at Molineux tomorrow.
The 1-0 home defeat by the Millers almost a fortnight ago will be remembered for supporters’ reaction, easily the angriest in boss Mick McCarthy’s three and a half years in charge at Portman Road, and the players will be out to make amends in the West Midlands.
Skuse said: "You can’t beat about the bush. In the last week or so I’ve bumped into people, at the shops or out and about, who have told me how poor we were against Rotherham. We can’t deny that — we were poor and any one of the players would say that.
"But if you look at any team in the world — maybe bar Barcelona — they all have their off days. In our case it just so happened to be against a team that are lower than us in the league and we know we can’t really afford to have off days at this time of the season when we’re chasing the play-offs.
"But it’s football and part and parcel of the job and the game. No one, regardless of what job they are in, goes to work every day and has a brilliant day. It just so happened that on that day against Rotherham we had a poor day.
"We deserved to come in for some criticism — it might not have just been the result but people questioning the way we were playing. One guy I met this week, he didn’t use the word boring but I can’t repeat the words he did use. I had to hold my little girl’s ears!
"He didn’t enjoy the way we played but we haven’t overly changed the way we play in the three years I’ve been here.
"We’ve had success, or partial success by getting into the play-offs last year, and we’ll be trying our hardest to redeem ourselves at Wolves on Saturday with a good, positive result.”
Meanwhile, Skuse also remains confident that he, Luke Hyam and Jonathan Douglas can form a midfield partnership, despite the widespread criticism aimed at the trio following Town’s defeat at home to Rotherham last time out.
He added: "That is something that has been spoken about. People questioned why the three of us played in midfield but you can’t just label everyone as a defensive midfielder.
"Of the three of us we’re not just defensive midfielders — we’re midfield players and there’s no difference to three of us playing there or two of us playing there.
"There wasn’t much said when there was the two lads playing in midfield so I don’t see why three of us can’t play in midfield.”
The progress of a batch of Town midfield youngsters, including Andre Dozzell, James Blanchfield, Kundai Benyu and Adam McDonnell has encouraged Skuse, even if it also reminds him that he is approaching the twilight of his own playing career.
He said: "They are great kids and the fact that they get call-ups to play for their countries speaks for itself.
"They will come and train with us on a regular basis and some are a bit too sharp and quick at times — but they get told. They are great players and it’s not just the midfielders.
"If you look at the strikers there’s Ben Morris, who scores for fun and has been called up by England.
"We’ve got some real good kids but there is an abundance of good midfielders coming through. They are quite sharp and quick but I try my utmost to give them a little kick during training.
"On the flip side, though, if they ever want to pick my brains or just ask a few questions — not just about football but off-the-field stuff as well — I’m more than happy to help them.
"They are keeping us on our toes and I’ve just recently turned 30 so I know my career is not going to go on forever. I’m getting to a stage now where people are thinking of putting me down!
"It’s refreshing to see the young kids coming through and it keeps me younger. I think I’m old at 30 — you can say that, I don’t mind — but I’ve got two young kids and they make me feel like I’m still 22. I’m a big kid myself so I’m not thinking about it.
"Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel old and I’m not on that rollercoaster heading down, but it’s a fact that I’m not getting any younger and the chance to play in the Premier League needs to happen soon.
"On average a player’s career ends around 35 so I’m a lot closer to that than I am 20. It needs to happen soon and we’re all keen to test the waters in the Premier League.”