No one could ever accuse Town new boy Adam Webster of arrogance, in fact, he’s a picture of modesty when reminded of manager Mick McCarthy’s recent assertion that the young defender is destined to play in the Premier League.
Webster is new to the Championship after his close season switch from Portsmouth but few would argue with McCarthy’s assessment, including the growing number of top-flight scouts who have been impressed with the 6ft 3ins-tall 21-year-old from West Wittering, near Chichester.
Reminded of McCarthy’s comment, Webster laughed: "It’s good to hear but I didn’t actually know about it until one of my mates sent it to me. It gave me a confidence boost but I’ll just keep my head down and keep working hard.
"The gaffer has said it and hopefully he is right that one day I will play there. But I’m not paying too much attention to that at the moment — in football you can’t get too high or too low. Things can change week in, week out.
"You can be on top of the world one week and the next you can be rock-bottom, so you can’t allow yourself to get too high. I’m just taking it in my stride and hopefully I will be able to keep putting in some good performances.”
Meanwhile, Webster is adamant that Town must treat tonight’s home clash with Burton — the first-ever competitive meeting between the clubs — as no different to any other fixture.
Having gone five games without either a win or even a goal, it is being labelled a must-win game by many supporters becoming increasingly frustrated by their team’s slump in form that has seen them drop several places down to 17th place in the league table.
Webster added: "We have to think of it as just another game. It’s a big game and we need to get a good result but they will be coming here with confidence. They have been promoted to League One and then the Championship in successive seasons so they have nothing to lose. It will be a tough game and we expect that.
"As players we know what we have to do and we’re the only ones who can do it. We’ve just got to take it in our stride and hopefully we can get a good result. We want our fans onside with us, especially at home. We want to get a good result at home in front of our fans and hopefully we can.
"Our home record has been fairly good this season so hopefully we can get a good result against Burton and then push on.
"I played against them in League Two, the year they got promoted, and they were a good side. They play 3-5-2 now but they didn’t back then, it was always 4-4-2. They were a solid, organised, hard to beat team and they have done fantastically well to get back-to-back promotions. It will be a tough test.”
While Town’s record of four cleans sheets in their last six games compares with the best in the Championship, Webster knows at the very least they will have to end their five-game goal drought if they are going to register their fourth league win of the season.
He said: "We all have a responsibility to chip in with goals when we can. That applies all the time, not just because we are experiencing a goal drought at the moment. Set pieces are a massive part of the game now and are something we work on a lot. Hopefully we can capitalise against Burton.”