Striker Freddie Sears has admitted 2017/18 was a difficult campaign for him but is pleased to be going into the summer having netted a goal in each of the final two matches.
Sears, 28, hadn’t scored for 38 matches stretching back to the end of the previous season before he found the net in the 4-0 win at Reading and then opened the scoring during Sunday’s final game of the season 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough.
"It was a difficult season for me personally,” the former West Ham man told iFollow Ipswich.""
"I think it was frustrating for a number of reasons but mainly because I wasn’t playing as much as I would have liked to and also because I wasn’t scoring goals.
"But to get on the scoresheet in the last two games was important and the season I’ve had made it that bit more special.""
"It was something that I needed and finishing on a high will give me some confidence going into the break.""
"The season was tough for the whole squad, though and while we’re looking forward to a rest now, we’ll be desperate to get back at it when next season comes around.”
Speaking in March, the January 2015 signing from Colchester admitted he might have to consider a move away from Portman Road this summer in order to play more regularly.
"I want to be playing, scoring and achieving stuff. It’s a decision I’ll have to make and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
"I’m not saying that I’m going to be leaving — that’s not the case. But we all think about our future and there will be some other boys also thinking about what they’re going to do.
"I’ve still got next year left on my contract here and I’m happy here, so let’s wait and see.”
Meanwhile, Paul Hurst remains the favourite for the Town manager’s job at 2-1 with Bet Victor - and 7-4 odds-on with SkyBet - with his current club Shrewsbury in action in the first leg of the League One play-offs against Charlton at the Valley on Thursday (Sky Sports Football 7.30pm).
Former Blues striker Shefki Kuqi is Bet Victor's second-favourite at 8-1, Simon Grayson, who has just left Bradford City after a short spell, is at 8-1 and Mark Warburton and St Mirren boss Jack Ross are at 10-1.
Ex-Tottenham and Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood, who TWTD revealed had been interviewed for the Blues vacancy on Monday, is at 12-1.
The 49-year-old is understood to have impressed Marcus Evans but is believed to want to change the current management structure, something the Blues owner said he wasn’t looking to do in his recent iFollow Ipswich interview.
The largely negative reaction from fans to the news that Sherwood was in the running will also have been noted with the club keen to build bridges with supporters after the fractious last couple of seasons under Mick McCarthy.
Former Town manager George Burley, Paul Cook, who yesterday signed a new four-year deal with Wigan, Frank Lampard and Tony Mowbray are all at 16-1.
Elsewhere, former Blues defender Josh Yorwerth, 23, has been named Crawley Town’s Young Player of the Season for 2017/18.