There’s one thing Adam Webster won’t miss now that he is fully recovered from the ruptured ankle ligament injury that saw him sit out half of his debut season at Portman Road.
The 22-year-old former Portsmouth central defender went from playing to watching every game and he admitted: "I don’t like watching and won’t miss it. It’s just not nice.”
Webster was crocked in training and it was feared he would be out of action for the entire season — but he is ahead of schedule and could even make his return to action in this weekend’s final fixture at relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.
His injury could hardly have come at a worse time as he had shown he was more than capable of coping with the demands of Championship football, progressing so well under Mick McCarthy that the Town boss was quickly declaring the young defender was destined for a Premier League future.
Webster said: "I had played in most of the games so to get injured when I did was very frustrating. I know any injury can be frustrating but to do the same one I’d had at Portsmouth and then have to go through the same process all over again made it even more frustrating.
"On the other hand, I knew what I had to do so that helped me in a way and hopefully there will be no more problems.
"I didn’t realise at first how serious it was because when I did it this time it wasn’t as painful as when I first did it. I was quite hopeful it wasn’t going to be a bad one and thinking it might only be a couple of weeks.
"It was just before the FA Cup replay at Lincoln and I can remember thinking ‘I’ll hopefully be alright to play tomorrow night’.
"But there was no chance — I was just being hopeful — and it has been a frustrating time for me. I thought I had shown I could play at this level and hopefully there is still a lot more to come.”
Asked if he felt he would have to prove himself all over again, Webster replied: "I think you always have to try to prove yourself. I’ll be focused on how I play and looking to show what I can do.”
Having Webster available would undoubtedly have helped Town in what proved to be a difficult second half of the campaign. At one stage they dropped to within five points of the drop zone before successive wins at Burton and at home to Newcastle over the Easter weekend ensured their survival.
Webster added: "It’s been a tough season and it’s a tough league with so much money being spent — and even the teams who are spending millions of pounds aren’t doing great. Forest are obviously fighting for their lives so it won’t be easy.
"We’ve got to go there and do a job, just like we normally do, and just because we’re safe there will be no resting up or anything like that. We’ll be going there to win the game.”