Boss Mick McCarthy says Luke Varney’s contract could be extended beyond January if the striker, who rejoined the Blues on a six-month contract in August, puts in more displays like his performance in Saturday's 3-0 victory over QPR at Portman Road.
Varney was handed the first start of his third spell with the Blues and netted his second goal of the season - his fourth for the club - in what his manager called a "fab” display which he felt "epitomised everything I would want about a team of mine”.
McCarthy outlined why he opted to start Varney: "Didzy needs a bit of a physical presence up front with him, any of them do.
"They benefit from that because when the ball goes up to Reg or the centre-halves it doesn’t always come back.
"You know there’ll be some sort of challenge on it and whether it had been Freddie [Sears] or Didz as it was, both of them benefit from that kind of physical presence up front.
The Town boss says the much-travelled Varney will be in with a chance of being offered a further deal.
"Yes,” he said when quizzed on the likelihood of the 34-year-old winning an extension to his deal. "He’s been injured [with a hamstring problem for much of the time since he re-signed].
"I can’t really show much more faith in a player when we’ve just drawn one and lost one here and everybody’s probably watching to see what happens and it could be a bit messy if we lose and I pick a centre forward to play.
"If that’s not a vote of confidence or showing faith in somebody, I don’t really know what is.
"He’s the fittest he’s been. If he was ever going to play it was today because he’s been terrific in training. He’s had a really good couple of weeks.”