Town visit Derby County on Tuesday looking to continue their remarkable record at Pride Park with manager Paul Hurst seeking his first win in charge of the Blues (Sky Sports Football, red button/iFollow, KO 7.45pm).
Town’s unbeaten run at Pride Park now stretches to 10 games - seven wins and three draws - and almost 12 years back to their last defeat, a 2-1 loss under Jim Magilton in November 2006.
Since the Rams moved to Pride Park at the start of the 1997/98 season the Blues' record reads played 17, won nine, drawn six and lost two.
The away team has won the last seven matches between the teams, four at Portman Road, three at Pride Park.
Told about Town's Pride Park record, Hurst said he takes little notice of such quirks: "No, because I think sometimes there are little trends that occur in football. I think there was one on Saturday that we hadn’t beaten Villa for a long time, it was at about a quarter to two it was going across the screen which really built confidence up!
"And then at the same time there was something where Villa hadn’t won their first three games for a long time. Probably those two carried on to some degree.
"Frank Lampard's a new manager for Derby, I’m a new manager for Ipswich Town, so I don’t think you can read too much into it.
"Some people will. I’m always a big believer that records are there to be broken. I quite like that.
"If you come up against a team and they’ve won six or seven on the spin I think they’ve got to be close to a defeat surely at some point, so why not us if we’re up against them? So, no I won’t read too much into that.”
In contrast to Town’s record, Hurst’s only game as a manager at Pride Park, Grimsby’s August 2016 League Cup tie against the Rams, ended in a 1-0 defeat.
Asked whether his squad would be travelling to the East Midlands in good spirits expecting to get something following Saturday’s impressive down-to-10-men 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, Hurst said: "I think expecting is always difficult in this league but you hope to put on another good performance, hope to keep 11 men on the pitch for as long as we can, which gives you a better chance of playing how you want to do.
"We showed we can do it with 10 for a long period, if we’ve got that extra man out there, it should be a little bit easier.
"But Derby are a good team, just because they’ve been beaten a couple of times [they shouldn't be underestimated]. You can certainly see in those defeats they’ve caused the opposition problems at times.
"They’re very expansive in the way they want to play, some very good young players added to some of the more experienced ones.
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"I think they’ve still got one or two people to come back into the team, so it certainly won’t be an easy game and naturally they’ll be looking for a reaction after getting beaten [2-1 at Millwall on Saturday].
"I think they spoke about the first half in which they didn’t play well enough, they were slow to get going but felt in the second half they were on the right track and the second half they won that 1-0, so they’ll be looking to carry that on. We’ve got to guard against that and do all we can to impose our game on Derby.”
The Rams won their opening game at Reading 2-1, rather fortunately by all accounts, then lost 4-1 at home to Leeds prior to a 2-0 Carabao Cup victory at Oldham and then the weekend reverse at Millwall.
Quizzed on whether it will be a tough learning curve for new boss Frank Lampard, who took his first job in management at Pride Park in the summer, Hurst said: "It’s far too early to judge him just because they’ve lost a couple of games. They won the first one, a tight game that could have gone the other way.
"You’ve got to give people time and Derby have big expectations on them as a football club. They missed out in the play-offs last season and are desperately wanting that return to the Premier League.
"With Frank Lampard, what I would say I’ve seen him do is bring some younger players in and maybe go down a slightly different route to try and get to that end goal.
"So give him time, let’s not be too critical. It is a tough learning curve, there’s nothing to say he will be as successful as a manager as he was as a player, that’s some act to follow, in truth. But everyone should certainly give him time.
"But naturally he’s going to be one of the names in particular that comes under a lot of scrutiny.”
@Official_ITFC fans travelling to Derby tonight. The away guide can be found here:https://t.co/PAy8NXDnB0
Tickets will be available on the night.– Liz Edwards ITFC SLO (@ITFC_SLO) August 21, 2018
Despite having worked his way up from non-league to the Championship from Ilkeston to Town via Boston, Grimsby and Shrewsbury, Hurst says he doesn’t begrudge Lampard, who was among those interviewed for the Blues job, getting his first opportunity at such a high level. "If someone’s going to offer it to you, what’s he going to say? ‘I’d rather go to non-league and start out’?” Hurst said. "There might be the odd person out there that would do that.
"It wouldn’t have happened, but if Ipswich had come calling for me as my first job, I wouldn’t have said, ‘No, you’re alright, I’m going to start off at Ilkeston and I’ll hopefully get there one day’.
"So no, I don’t begrudge him, I’ve said before I’m proud of the route I’ve taken and I do think it is a big ask because it’s alright working around a good people and picking up things but when you’re thrown in there it is very different.
"I wouldn’t begrudge him, I don’t think he strikes me as the type of person that says he’s never going to be a manager unless he gets a certain opportunity. There’s maybe the odd character out there that moans about not getting interviews or not getting a chance in the league.
"If you don’t get one then go in non-league and try and prove your worth. And I never heard him do that, so good luck to him.”
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Hurst says he never came up against Lampard during their playing careers: "No, never. I think the club I was at [Rotherham], even if it was the reserves league, you tended to come up against the more northern teams.
"Chelsea wasn’t a team I faced but obvious I’ve been an admirer watching him for club and country in an era with Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. We talk about the current crop being the best that we’ve had, I’m not so sure that that’s the case.”
While Lampard is taking his first steps in management, Hurst is looking to adapt his approach to a higher level.
"I think in a lot of ways I’ve not been that stubborn that I don’t ever look at myself and reflect and analyse, but at the same time I know what I am and the way that I act and want to conduct myself and I’m not going to suddenly change that now,” he reflected.
"But I’m sure that he’s got an idea of how he wants to be but along the way there probably will be a bit of learning, that’s natural.
"I’m not finished learning but I’m clearly further down the road in terms of being in that position where you’re selecting the team, you’re standing up and addressing the players, that’s something I’ve had more experience of.”
Hurst is unlikely to stray too far from the team which drew with Villa, although will be forced into one change with Tayo Edun suspended for one match following his dismissal.
Bartosz Bialkowski will be in goal with Janoi Donacien and Jonas Knudsen the full-backs and skipper Luke Chambers and Toto Nsiala at the centre of the defence.
In midfield Trevoh Chalobah will be behind Cole Skuse and Jon Nolan with Gwion Edwards on the right.
Grant Ward or Freddie Sears will come in for Edun on the left with Ellis Harrison the lone striker.
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Derby County skipper Curtis Davies is again set to miss out with a minor muscle injury, but Tom Huddlestone, who has been out with a groin problem since the latter stages of pre-season, is closing in on a return.
Marcus Olsson is out with a long-term knee injury, while Ikechi Anya and Chris Martin are back in U23s action but yet not ready for a first-team return.
Winger Harry Wilson, who missed Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Millwall with a groin problem, and left-back Scott Malone, who came off at half-time at the Den with a hamstring injury, are both doubts.
Derby boss Lampard is looking for his team to make a positive start having conceded first in all three of their Championship matches so far.
"You do have to be quick out of the blocks,” he told Rams TV. "We have had to come from behind in all of our league games so far, so it is important that we start well.
"It helps confidence, it helps results, it helps the atmosphere and I know that our fans want to see us come out firing.
"They want to see commitment, energy and passion — all qualities that help you start games well.
"You need to have quality on the ball too, but if we put those basics in, hopefully we will get that good start we’re all looking for.”
Historically, Town have had the better of Derby, winning 36 games (34 in the league), drawing 21 (19) and losing 28 (27).
Infamously, Derby striker David Nugent has a remarkable record of scoring 15 in 16 games against the Blues for his various clubs.
The teams last met at Portman Road in December last year when Joe Garner headed his seventh goal of the season after Sam Winnall had scored twice for Derby as the Blues ended 2017 with a 2-1 home defeat.
Winnall nodded the visitors in front in the 13th minute as they dominated the first half, then added the second three minutes after the break. Town were better in the second half but were only able to respond with Garner’s goal on 65.
Late the previous month, Callum Connolly’s first goal for the Blues in the fifth minute saw Town to a 1-0 victory over Derby at Pride Park.
Connolly flicked home a header from a Martyn Waghorn corner on the right and despite spells of Derby pressure, the Blues hung on to claim all three points.
Waghorn joined the Rams from the Blues earlier this month for an initial £5 million with the fee potentially rising to £7.5 million. The striker signed for Town the previous summer from Rangers for £250,000 and scored 16 goals in 39 starts and seven sub appearances in a hugely successful 2017/18 with Town.
Derby attacker Tom Lawrence moved to Pride Park in the summer of 2017 from Leicester for an initial £5 million with the fee potentially rising to £7 million.
The Wales international enjoyed a very impressive loan spell with the Blues during 2016/17, scoring 11 goals in 34 starts and two sub appearances.
Striker Jack Marriott came through the ranks at the Town academy having joined the Blues from Kettering as a schoolboy. He made one Carabao Cup start and two Championship appearances for Town before being released in the summer of 2015.
Rams centre-half and skipper Richard Keogh was an academy schoolboy and Portman Road ballboy during his formative years, while striker Martin, a former Norwich City player, is from Suffolk having been born in Beccles.
Tuesday’s referee is Scott Duncan, who has shown eight yellow cards and one red in three games so far this season. Town are unbeaten in games in which he has been in charge.
Duncan’s last Town game was the recent 1-0 pre-season friendly victory at the MK Dons, but his most recent competitive match was the 1-0 win at Preston in February in which he booked Skuse, Waghorn, Joe Garner and one Lilywhite.
Coincidentally, Duncan was also in charge of the Blues’ last visit to Pride Park when, during the 1-0 win, he booked Chambers, Adam Webster and Flynn Downes as well as three Rams.
Before that he took control of the 1-1 home draw with Brentford in March last year in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout.
Prior to that Duncan refereed the 3-0 away win at Charlton in November 2015 in which he booked two Addicks and no Blues.
The Northumberland-based official, who shares a name with a former Town manager, also took control of the Blues in the 4-1 after-extra-time win at Doncaster in the Capital One Cup in August of the same year in which he booked Myles Kenlock and two home players.
He was also the man in the middle of the 1-1 home draw with Brentford the previous season and the November 2013 1-0 victory over Charlton at The Valley.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Donacien, Spence, Knudsen, Kenlock, Chambers (c), Nsiala, Skuse, Chalobah, Downes, Nydam, Dozzell, Edwards, Sears, Ward, Roberts, Nolan, Harrison, Jackson.