Blues defender Luke Woolfenden is delighted to have been given the opportunity to play regularly in the first team during pre-season with Town currently short of centre-halves.
The 19-year-old has been skipper Luke Chambers’s partner in the starting line-up in the last three friendlies with Adam Webster having moved to Bristol City earlier in the summer and loanee Cameron Carter-Vickers having returned to his parent club Spurs at the end of last season. Fellow youngster Chris Smith joined Aldershot on loan yesterday after recovering from the back injury he suffered at the end of last season.
"I’m really enjoying it, to be fair,” academy product Woolfenden said. "I’ve got lots of minutes on the pitch and training every day with the first team is helping me as a player.”
He says he’s relishing partnering Chambers: "He’s great to play alongside, easy to play alongside. There are no nerves when you’re alongside him, you just look across and hear him talking you through the game really, step by step.”
Ipswich-born Woolfenden says he hadn’t anticipated taking such a prominent role in pre-season but is happy that circumstances have handed him the opportunity.
"I was hoping, I don’t know if I was really expecting it, but I was hoping to be in there,” he continued.
"I came back fit, so I didn’t see a reason why I couldn’t be in the first team and obviously there aren’t many centre-backs with Webby leaving. I saw that as a chance to hopefully cement a place in the first team.
"That’s aim really, just to cement a starting XI place or even just a place in the first team squad and around it every day.”
Woolfenden spent much of last season on loan at Vanarama National League Bromley, where he made 17 starts and three sub appearances at right-back, before returning to Portman Road and making his Championship debut under caretaker-manager Bryan Klug - having featured twice in the Carabao Cup earlier in the season - as the Blues won 4-0 at Reading. He made a further appearance from the bench against Middlesbrough on the final day.
"It was a bit all over the place but I enjoyed last season a lot down at Bromley, they helped me out massively as a person as a football player, so I can’t complain,” he said.
"And obviously coming back towards the end of the season and making my debut, my full debut in the Championship in the Reading game was just an added bonus really.
"It was a great game to play in because there was no pressure on us. I know that it’s not going to be like that every week, but it was an easy-ish game if you can say that, to make my debut in. And 4-0, you can’t complain about that really.”
He says he’s enjoyed working with new manager Paul Hurst with his assistant Chris Doig, a centre-half during his playing days, having given him plenty of advice already.
"There’s a fair chance for everyone, you’ve just got to take your chance and impress him,” Woolfenden added regarding Hurst.
"He’s always watching, always helping me, telling me things I can improve on, him and Doigy.
"Doigy’s always on at me about being on my toes, so they’re always around, always helping.”