Town boss Mick McCarthy says on-loan Reading striker Dominic Samuel has given him something to think about ahead of Tuesday’s crucial home game against second-bottom Wigan.
Samuel, 22, made his Blues debut as a 71st minute sub in Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Birmingham and played a part in Grant Ward’s fortuitous goal soon afterwards when he laid the ball out to the wideman.
McCarthy says the former Coventry, Gillingham and Dagenham and Redbridge loanee, who is back after suffering a broken toe soon after joining the Blues, offers something different from the rest of his frontmen.
"He does, I’ve been pleased with him,” he said. "I thought he did really well on Saturday and he’s given me a bit of food for thought, which is nice.”
McCarthy admits that aside from 11-goal top scorer Tom Lawrence Town’s strikers haven’t score often enough during 2017/18.
"Not too many goals at all this season, we’ve not scored enough goals this season from all parts of the team,” he reflected.
"I’ll have a look at it when we finish, what it's down to, is it poor crossing, poor passing, poor finishing? Do we have chances? I’d say we do.
"I think in some of the games we’ve created good chances and not really put them away. So I think it’s a lot of things, it’s not just one thing at all.
"But where in the past if we had scored a goal and gone 1-0 up we’d have pretty much held onto it and kept it out, we’ve given some sloppy ones away.”
McCarthy dismissed claims he lines his side up merely not to lose matches rather than looking to win them.
"I’ve never once set off to just try to not get beat,” he insisted. "I’ve always set up to try and win the game, whatever you or anybody else thinks about performances. That is the intention, we set off to win the games.
"But on the other side of that, it’s important not to get beaten. Gianfranco Zola came upstairs and said on Saturday that it was a ‘must not get beaten’ game rather than a must-win.”