David Cornell makes no secret of his desire to become Town’s first-choice goalkeeper in the not too distant future and sees tomorrow’s Papa John’s Trophy visit to Crawley as an important step along the way.
It may have been described as ‘tinpot’ by some fans but the firm’s sponsorship over the next three years, taking over from previous backers Leasing.com and Checkatrade, will keep alive a competition that sees the final take place at Wembley and has launched many a promising career at the same time.
With Town no longer involved in the FA Cup after Saturday’s extra-time defeat to Portsmouth in the first round, Cornell knows his only chance to impress manager Paul Lambert is likely to come in the tournament restricted to League One and League Two clubs as well as U21 teams from side with category one academies.
Cornell said: "First and foremost, for me it is an opportunity to get more minutes and keep knocking on the door to get into the league side and I think it’s the same for a few others.
"For the young lads, for example, it’s the first chance they get to experience first-team football and help them on their path to hopefully having a successful career in the game.
"You look at our game against Gillingham in this competition last month and Elkan Baggott made his debut. He was only 17 the two lads [Baggott and Luke Woolfenden] did really well and I couldn’t speak highly enough of the way they played.
"To play against someone as experienced as John Akinde couldn’t have been easy and both Elkan and Luke came through very well. To be fair, all the young players who have had a chance have done well and I hope it’s the same story at Crawley tomorrow for those who are picked to play.”
Cornell enjoys a healthy relationship with current first choice Tomas Holy and also has praise for the other goalkeepers at the club, adding: "Albert White’s a lovely lad. He does some of the warm-ups at first team games and works with the senior keepers in training.
"There’s Adam [Przybek] and Wrighty [Harry Wright] too, and they all have great potential. I like being with the younger lads in training because I can pass on little bits of advice based on my own experiences. They have all impressed me.”
His rapport with goalkeeping coach Jimmy Walker is also a huge factor in Cornell’s aim to establish himself at Portman Road and he revealed that he is working to his own personal plan with 47-year-old Walker, who had a successful playing career spanning over 500 club appearances, mainly for Walsall.
Cornell added: "In terms of my positioning, I think I’ve always been a really aggressive type of goalkeeper and we’ve looked at that and ways I can improve my positioning as an all-round keeper.
"We’ve compared me to some of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers and identified things I can take from their games and put into mine.
"Jimmy tailors his coaching to each of the keepers. For me, it’s about an improvement in positioning more than anything else and the fact that I would be working with Jimmy was a big factor in me coming to Ipswich. He has seen my path and has spotted the improvements I need to make.
"Also, his experiences as a goalkeeper were great — he did alright, didn’t he?. It’s good to have his knowledge, which is a big help, and he loves the daily work we do every bit as much as the keepers. I don’t need any motivation but if I did he’d be the man I would go and see.”
Finally, Cornell turned his attention back to the trip to Crawley, where a penalty shoot-out could be required to separate the sides. "I’m not saying anything….just in case,” he said.
When asked to elaborate, he replied: "I don’t think I’ve lost one. But if it does come down to penalties I won’t be taking one!”