Town are the Championship’s top scorers so far this season, despite having played a game fewer than most of the other sides, and Cole Skuse has raved about the impact of the club’s new-look attack.
The double capture of Joe Garner (four goals) and Martyn Waghorn (five) from Rangers has been a telling factor, as has the return to form of talisman David McGoldrick, who has already netted six times — once more than in the whole of last season when he spent most of his time sidelined through injury.
Skuse, who has even contributed a rare goal himself, said: "I read something this morning about us being the top scorers in the league at the moment and that it took us until December last season to get the amount of goals we’ve got now.
"You know when the ball goes into the box that Garns and Waggy are unbelievable in the air. You saw Didzy [McGoldrick] the other night and what he can do and there’s also Santsy [Bersant Celina].
"He has great feet and great ability in the final third. So we know that once the ball’s gone forward we look a real threat and could score at any time.”
Skuse, who found the net against Bolton earlier this month and has scored just twice in his 178 appearances for Town, was jokingly asked if he could reach double figures and he responded: "Do you mean for the season or my Ipswich career?
"I had a message sent through from a friend of mine — not a pro, not Lukako — the other day. He was pointing out that I’ve gone on to 11 career goals and that he’s scored 11 already this season — and he’s only played six games. But I’m happy with my one so far and if another one comes along it will be a bonus.
"I had a few comments about the celebration, saying it wasn’t too bad for someone who doesn’t score too often. There was a little bit of interest in my lower region, with my shorts being a bit wind-assisted. My wife saw a picture and was one of the first to point it out.
"Obviously, I explained I wasn’t that excited and that my shorts were just a bit tight.
"My wife was away on a hen do that weekend so my mum and dad brought my little girl along — my little boy couldn’t sit still long enough — and it was the first time she had seen Daddy score, which was nice.
"There wasn’t much banter from the boys. There wasn’t time for that because it was such a rare occurrence, me scoring, that they took me straight off for a drugs test.
"I didn’t even see the other boys afterwards because by the time I delivered they had all gone. There were a few texts flying around that night though.”
Skuse stood in as skipper for the games against Brentford, Fulham and QPR, while Luke Chambers was absent through an ankle injury picked up in the win at Millwall, and added: "It is a massive honour to be captain, especially at a club like this when you see the people who have been captain in the past.
"But I’ve said many times before that Chambo is the best captain I’ve ever played under. To take the armband off him for a few days was okay, but it was thrown straight back to him as soon as he came back.
"It doesn’t make any difference to how I play when I’m captain. I was captain quite a few times at Bristol City so it wasn’t something new. But I like to see myself as a captain-type player, a go-to character, especially for the younger pros, so it didn’t change anything about the way I played.
"I didn’t do the fist pump either when we beat Brentford. I said right from the start that it wasn’t my gig — it’s Chambo’s gig. But good old Jonas, I looked over my shoulder and he couldn’t wait to do it. He did a good job and got the praise from the fans.”
Skuse has also revealed that manager Mick McCarthy does not hesitate to consult his senior players. "He’s brilliant in that he will pick the older players’ brains,” said the 31-year-old.
"He’s willing to listen and every now and again he will call the experienced lads into his office to see if everything is okay within the camp and see if there is anything he might have to change with regard to the training.
"We had a chat on the touchline the other night and I was just pointing out a few things that you maybe can’t see from the touchline. But as the game is going on you can feel certain things happening and it makes sense to say something to the gaffer.
"He will then say we can do this, this and this to put things right. It’s just one of those things — he bounces off us and we bounce off the gaffer.”