Ask any Town fan to nominate a highlight of the season so far and the vast majority are likely to opt for the opening-day win over Barnsley as the silver lining to what has been a predominantly cloudy campaign.
No one remembers it better than Grant Ward, who made his debut as a half-time substitute and went on to rewrite the record books with a hat-trick that helped Mick McCarthy’s men to a richly deserved 4-2 success.
With the season’s halfway point looming, Town head to Birmingham tonight having so far failed to record back-to-back wins and badly in need of the fillip a victory at St Andrew’s would undoubtedly provide.
Top scorer Ward has added a further two goals since his second-half heroics against the Tykes and admitted: "I think I’ve been a bit up and down with my form since then. I’ve had a few good games and a few not so good but I’m always working hard in training and looking to improve.
"It was good to get a goal against QPR to keep me going. I thought it was a good goal and if I end the season in double figures I’ll be happy with that.
"I don’t think there was too much expectation after my debut and even if there was it didn’t affect me. I just try to give my best in every game and then see what happens.”
Ward agreed Town supporters have had little to excite them in a stop-start sequence since their first-day triumph, recording just five more victories in their subsequent 19 league fixtures in a run that sees them now in 17th place, five points clear of the drop zone and seven adrift of the play-off places.
The ex-Tottenham player added: "We owe it to the fans to go out and put in a good performance at Birmingham. I think we did it against QPR — that was a good performance from the team — and also in a few other games but we haven’t been able to do it often enough.
"As a player you can always sense it when the fans are down in the dumps and if I’m being honest I’ve felt it at Portman Road recently.
"There are a few jeers at times, maybe if we go backwards or if we lose the ball, something like that, and at the end if we haven’t won the game.
"But there’s been nothing outside of the ground — all the fans I’ve met have been fine — and the mood at the training ground is always positive.
"We know we can put things right. When the fans are jeering on a match day I can block it out. That’s the way I am but maybe some of the other lads are different, I don’t know. I still find I’m able to focus on my game.”
Ward heads for St Andrew’s this evening believing that flak from opposition fans can even help to lift his level of performance. He explained: "You can always sense the mood of the crowd and at Birmingham we will be looking to get at them from the start.
"I discovered when I was on loan at Rotherham last season that if I put in a bad tackle on one of their players I would get it from the home crowd every time I got on the ball.
"But that doesn’t bother me. In fact, I enjoy it because it helps to motivate me to do well. I usually find if I’m getting stick from the opposition fans it’s because I’m doing well against their team.”