Goal-shy Town striker Freddie Sears will not be consulting a psychologist in his quest to end a lengthy spell without scoring.
Sears last netted 11 months ago in the 3-1 Easter Monday home defeat of Premier League-bound Newcastle and has drawn a blank in his 33 subsequent first-team appearances.
But asked if he might consider seeking the help of a psychologist, something other players have done in similar circumstances, he said: "There probably is someone I could ask but to be honest I’m not too interested in that.
"I’m just focusing on myself and if it happens, it happens. I’m ready to play and hopefully I’ll get some chances and score some goals.
"I’ve started 10 league games this season and only three or four up front. If I was a winger I’d probably be disappointed but there wouldn’t be as much made out of it.
"I know that because I’m a striker I’ll be judged on goals. I’ve been around long enough to know that and I just have to take it on the chin.
"I’ve had it throughout my career. I’m not the big target man who is going to play as a number nine. I know that if I don’t play wide on the right or the left I’ll be sitting on the bench.
"I’ve just got to get on with it and keep working hard, and hopefully the goals will come.”
Despite his barren spell, Sears’s value to the side is not underestimated by either his team-mates or manager Mick McCarthy, who consistently praises the ex-West Ham and Colchester player for the selfless way in which he applies himself in games, whether from the start or the bench.
Sears added: "It’s nice to be appreciated. Obviously, I think the gaffer trusts me, which is a good thing, and I know the boys all like me.
"But at the end of the day I want to be playing and scoring goals, and see where that takes me.
"If I was scoring goals I’d be knocking on the manager’s door to ask why I wasn’t playing regularly. But at the minute I’m not scoring goals and other boys are, so it would be pointless doing that.
"The team are doing well and you just have to accept it when you’re not a regular choice. You have to get your head down and be ready for when you are called upon.
"You just have to train as hard as you can. TC does some great sessions for the strikers and everyone works hard in training. It’s quite intensive and we play how we train.
"The gaffer doesn’t let anyone down tools in training. Everyone is at it Monday to Friday and it’s great because you are staying fit.
"I was in for four or five games at the start of the season but then I was left out. I eventually came back but I didn’t really feel fit. I’m feeling good and feeling sharp now.
"I did alright at Sunderland and against Cardiff, and the other night at Hillsborough I thought I did well, so I’m moving in the right direction.
"It is probably more difficult to come into the side now and again than people realise. When you’re playing every week you have the match fitness and you’re ready to go.
"The boys who come in after not playing much are not as sharp and can’t always cope with the intensity.
"Training’s not the same as a Saturday afternoon at three o’clock when there are points on the line, there’s an atmosphere and everyone’s buzzing.”
Sears was close to breaking his scoring duck for the season just before half-time in last month’s 2-0 win at Sunderland when he was honest enough to confess that he had not got a touch and that Black Cats’ defender Adam Matthews had, in fact, conceded an own goal.
He laughed: "If it had hit me I’d have claimed it. I’d have loved a goal but I knew straight away what was going to happen. It looked like it was mine but I knew it wasn’t.
"It was an open goal and at least I was in the right position but the most important thing that day was to get the three points. That win has kicked us on and we’re back in with half a shot at the play-offs again.”
Meanwhile, Sears admitted his colleagues were not pulling his leg about his lack of goals, adding: "There isn’t really any banter about it, to be honest. I think everyone knows the situation — that when you’re not playing regularly it’s frustrating — and we all have different ways of dealing with it.
"A lot of people say I do the selfless things and sometimes I end up playing left-back rather than where I want to be playing. I’m putting in the effort for the team and I think the boys appreciate it.
"I hope I can go back to being the player I was when I first arrived three years ago and I was playing alongside Daryl Murphy.
"Obviously, confidence is a big issue. When you’re playing and scoring you are bouncing on to the pitch so it would be nice to get a couple and see what happens from there.”