Town defender Adam Webster has admitted he is less than happy with his form going into tomorrow’s FA Cup third round date with non-league Lincoln at Portman Road.
Webster hit the ground running after his £700,000 move from Portsmouth last summer and has even been the subject of transfer speculation linking him with a switch to the Premier League.
But Webster, who scored his first goal for Town in last month’s 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City, owned up: "I’ve not been too happy with my own form of late and it’s something I am working hard to put right in the upcoming games.
"I’m learning a lot here, just training every day and training with better players. No disrespect to Portsmouth, but they are better players here.
"Plus, I’m playing against some of the best strikers in the league week in, week out. And obviously I’ve got the manager and TC [Terry Connor] helping me.
"We go through clips from games — what I’ve done well and what I’ve done badly — and that can only help.
"There have been a couple of errors, which have led to goals, and that’s frustrating. But hopefully I can put it right in the upcoming games and put it behind me.
"It was nice to score a goal — to get the first one out of the way is pleasing — and hopefully I can add a couple more to my tally.
"Not just me, but all the defenders should probably be getting among the goals a bit more.
"Tom Lawrence has got great delivery and we’ve got some big lads. We all feel we should be getting on the end of his set pieces more often.”
It was Webster’s 83rd minute error, when he misjudged the flight of a long ball from the back, which enabled QPR striker Pawal Wszolek to earn a late winner at Loftus Road on Monday.
Webster added: "It was obviously frustrating — not the result we wanted. We played well against Bristol City and we played well against QPR, and despite the defeat there were still plenty of positives to take into Saturday’s game and into the league after that.”
Webster agreed it might be a good thing for Town to have a break from the Championship this weekend and would like nothing more than to help the club into the fourth round and beyond.
He added: "Maybe it could be a good thing. If you’re winning games it is obviously going to help. You can take the cup form into league games so it could definitely help.
"We played well in our last couple of games and we’ll be looking to win on Saturday to get an FA Cup run going. If we get through you never know who we might get in the fourth round.
"The FA Cup is a great competition and if we win this game we’ll be in the hat for the fourth round. You never know who we might get so it’s always exciting. It’s great for the fans and as players we love it just as much. If we can win this game and get a big team in the next round, or go on a run, it would be brilliant.”
Webster was a youngster at Portsmouth when they won the FA Cup in 2008 so he has seen the effect that Wembley glory can have on a club. But he confessed: "I’m not going to lie — I wasn’t really a Portsmouth fan. But I was there at the time and it was obviously great for the club. I wasn’t at Wembley, though.”
There is no way Webster will be underestimating a Lincoln side currently on top of the Vanarama National League because he experienced the standard of football at that level during a loan spell at Aldershot in the 2013/14 season.
He said: "I think people underestimate the National League. I was only young when I went there and I probably under-estimated it a bit myself. There are some good players at that level and there are no mugs. It’s a tough league and a tough league to get out of.”
Town teenager Kundai Benyu is currently on loan with the Shots and Webster added: "Aldershot are a good club to be at, playing games week in, week out. The manager, Gary Waddock, was at Portsmouth as well and he’s a great coach. Kundai will learn a lot there.”