Oli Hawkins heads for Plymouth tomorrow looking to make his first league start since netting his first — and so far only — goal for the club.
Since heading the only goal of the game against the Railwaymen he has had to make do with appearances off the bench in three League One fixtures, although he did start against former club Portsmouth in the FA Cup first round tie that saw Town go two goals down and fight back to level before exiting the competition, losing 3-2 after extra time.
Hawkins, 28, said: "It has been a bit frustrating not being out there playing regularly but also, at the same time, just making sure that my fitness and my body was right to come back when called upon.
"With all the injuries that we have at the moment it has been a difficult period these last few weeks and you just want to make sure you’re right.”
Asked how he rated his own form this season, Hawkins added: "I came here as the fourth striker but because the others were injured I started quite a large number of league games, which I didn’t expect to happen.
"As a footballer you want to take your chance when it comes along so I was looking to keep the shirt for as long as possible and do as well as I could for the team. I was out there giving it my best and trying to score but I don’t feel you saw my full potential because I maybe wasn’t quite 100 per cent fit.
"It was tough, with the games coming Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, to keep the body up to standard but now I’m feeling really fresh and going into the busy Christmas period I’m looking to be stronger and fitter.
"When I signed for Ipswich I was about three weeks behind the other boys in pre-season training and I didn’t play in many of the friendlies.
"I was thrown straight into games at the start of the season and picked up an injury because there were so many games. It’s hard to gauge when I’ll be 100 per cent but I’m feeling the best I have in a long time so that’s a big positive.”
Hawkins decided against a face-to-face meeting with manager Paul Lambert to seek an explanation for his absence from the starting line-up and explained: "I wasn’t really expected to come straight into the side.
"We had a few injuries to the other boys up front and when they all came back I knew being selected would be a lot more difficult for the manager.
"Also, every game is different and the manager might have been looking for something a bit different from one game to the next. In the last couple of weeks I’ve had a slight niggle, so I haven’t been too worried about knocking on his door.
"But when you’re on the bench you have to make sure you are ready. Sometimes it is a good feeling to be coming on and trying to change the game or bring something else to the team, which I felt was the case at Oxford on Tuesday night. When I came on we went a bit more direct and got Jacko [Kayden Jackson] up there with me.
"I think we could work as a partnership but between all four of the strikers I think we have several partnerships that could work. Before I came here I knew about Nors [James Norwood] and Kayden, how good they were and what they could bring, but I didn’t know too much about Aaron [Drinan].
"However, after seeing him in pre-season and the friendlies we played, I could definitely tell he was one for the future. He’s got a lot of talent and is going to be good for Ipswich.
"In my opinion, as long as he can get over the injury he picked up against Wigan on the first day of the league season, and he can get back to full fitness, we’ve got a really good young striker there.”
Hawkins has plenty of sympathy for fellow striker Norwood, who has only been able to start three league games this season and is still waiting for his first league goal of the campaign.
He did hit the back of the net in the FA Cup clash with Pompey but his latest setback came when he was forced to limp off in the first half of the 2-0 home defeat by Charlton last weekend with a hamstring injury.
"It’s tough when you pick up a couple of injuries in a row,” said Hawkins. "Nors had done really well when he came back the first time and scored against Portsmouth, and he was gaining momentum when he picked up another hamstring injury against Charlton.
"But he’s a strong character and will get over it, and he’ll come back even stronger. Hopefully, next time, he will get his body right and get back to being in and around the team to allow us to go for promotion.”