Forward Jack Lankester was delighted to be back in action in the second of last night’s two 75-minute friendlies at Colchester having missed the whole of 2019/20 and the final months of the previous season due to injury.
The 20-year-old initially suffered a stress fracture of his back in January 2019 when he played his last competitive game, then broke down in pre-season last August in Germany and required surgery.
The Bury St Edmunds-based academy product played 62 minutes as the Blues beat the U’s 1-0 having won the opening fixture 4-0.
"It’s been a long time coming," Lankester told iFollow Ipswich. "The hard work that you put in when you’re injured - it all comes down to being back out there with the boys and playing some football.
"All of these games are physical because people have been waiting so long to play. It was high intensity but we were all expecting it so I think we done pretty well in dealing with it.
"I missed last season but that’s all in the past now. From day one I was with the boys and loved every minute of it. Working up to a game - I’ve missed that feeling.
"I think it definitely helped me coming back in the small groups in pre-season. It gave me a bit of extra time to get up to that level where other people were."