Joe Garner has tried to encourage Town fans by insisting it is not all doom and gloom around Portman Road at the moment.
Mick McCarthy’s men may have won just three of their last 11 games — coincidentally against the Championship’s bottom three of Bolton, Burton and Sunderland — but thanks to their whirlwind start to the campaign, when they won five games on the trot, they still occupy a respectable position in the league.
Striker Garner, signed from Rangers in the summer, looked ahead to Saturday’s home clash with Preston and said: "If you look at the table we’re sitting 11th and not too many points off the top six so I think you’ve got to take the positives out of it and go on from there.
"We’re sat on the same points as Preston but we have a game in hand on them. At the start of the season, to be four points off the play-offs with a game in hand isn’t a disastrous start and a couple of wins will soon make the position better.”
Garner is too long in the tooth to think the points will come easily, however, and he reflected on Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat at second-placed Cardiff. "I thought it was a tough game,” he added. "Cardiff are a good side, very strong and physical, and I can imagine them being up there come the end of the season.
"We spoke about things this morning and there are probably a few things we need to improve upon but it’s all about the weekend and the game against Preston now.
"The league looks particularly close again this year and there are some tough, tough teams in it. Anyone able to string two wins together will shoot right up there but if you lose two on the spin everybody seems to jump above you.”
Preston, managed by ex-Norwich boss Alex Neil, come to town on the back of a depressing run of form — just one win in their last seven outings and only two points from a possible 15 in their last five — and with the teams tied on 21 points it is a huge fixture for both.
For Garner it’s a first chance to face his boyhood idols since leaving them in August last year when Rangers lured him north of the border in a £1.8 million move, Town paying considerably less to bring him south again in the summer.
He said: "I grew up supporting Preston and I used to go and watch their games. When the chance came up to join them I couldn’t turn down it down and I never regretted it. It was a real pleasure to play for them and it meant a lot to me.
"Will I celebrate if I score? Well, I want to win and I want to score. Put it this way, I will if it’s the last minute probably, if it's a last-minute winner!
"You can’t really say how you will react in that situation. The adrenalin decides, I suppose. We’ll all be going out looking to win the game, get three points and get closer to where we want to be in the league.”
Garner moved to Deepdale from Watford in January 2013 and in his first full season netted 24 times. He bagged 27 goals in the 2014/15 campaign to become League One’s leading marksman as the Lilywhites won promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.
The Blackburn-born striker — no relation to Ewood Park legend Simon Garner — only managed to score six goals in 44 games in the second tier and in August 2016 moved to Scotland, where ex-Brentford boss Mark Warburton was manager.
He added: "They are great memories of some successful times at Preston but it’s in the past now. I’m an Ipswich player and I’m looking to help us beat Preston on Saturday. That’s how it is in football, you move on. The Preston lads will be just as keen to beat us and take the points.”