Town striker Macauley Bonne has spoken of his delight that James Norwood has come in from the cold to partner him up front recently.
Norwood was training with the club’s U23 squad during ex-manager Paul Cook’s time in charge and it was interim manager John McGreal who took the decision to end the player’s exile and restore him to the senior squad.
Norwood, the club’s top scorer in each of his first two seasons at the club, netted after coming on as a substitute in the 1-1 draw at Wigan and then made it two in as many league games when he headed the Blues in front against Sunderland last week in a game that also ended in stalemate and with the same scoreline.
QPR loanee Bonne, who has gone nine games without adding to his impressive 11-goal tally, turned provider against the Black Cats when his deflected cross sat up perfectly for Norwood to head Town in front in first-half stoppage time.
Bonne smiled: "I love the guy! We were screaming out for someone like him in the team and in the squad. Now he’s here we are hoping we can utilise him and whether it’s me and him, or whoever plays in the games alongside him, he can do a great job for us.
"I like the thought of me and Nors playing together because we’ve both been around the block.
"We’ve both been playing non-league football and had to graft our way up to the league. We’ve both got that same hunger about us to play as well and for as long as possible.
"We’ve got so much in common and it is massively important. We’re from the same place and we both know how hard it is playing in non-league football, so now we’re here in League One with Ipswich we are not going to waste the opportunity we have been given.
"Also, we’ve both got that streetwise ability — we’re both physical and like to have a bit of fun on the pitch — and we’re a couple of wind-up merchants. It’s why we get on so well off the pitch as well.”
Only time will tell whether Bonne and Norwood continue in tandem up front for new boss Kieran McKenna but the impact on the sport of the coronavirus pandemic is another major concern right now, with Town's Boxing Day game at Gillingham among a host of postponements over the Christmas and New Year period.
Asked how worried he was about the situation, speaking prior to confirmation that the trip to the Priestfield Stadium is off, Bonne replied: "I’m a bit of both and everyone has their own opinion. If games go ahead they go ahead and if they get cancelled what can you do about it? It’s a global pandemic that affects a lot more besides football.
"Everyone in the world is affected and if football can go ahead it’s a bit of a bonus. But if it’s cancelled that’s something we have to deal with. There’s nothing we can do about it — well, there is, we’ve got to be very careful.
"We can’t control what the government says and you’ve got to take it one step at the time, haven’t you?
"We speak about it a lot amongst the players and of course we’re worried about it. Because we’re footballers people probably don’t think we speak about this kind of stuff but when we come in for training every day we’re friends so we speak about the same things and chat about what’s going on in the world.
"We keep it as real as possible but when we go out on the pitch it’s only football that matters.”
Bonne and fiancée Chloe recently went public with an Instagram post in which it was revealed that she had suffered three miscarriages after the couple decided they wanted to start a family.
He said: "It has been a tough time for both of us and we thought people needed to know what has been going on in our lives, so it’s out there now. I didn’t want it to get as big as it did, just for people to know, so the fact that it got into the papers was a bit of a shock for the missus and me.
"But when something like that gets out I suppose that’s what is going to happen. I’m supporting her and we’re very much together in this so it’s something that we’re going to work on together.”
Asked if football helped him to cope during such a difficult emotional time, Bonne added: "Yes and no. Sometimes there’s nothing that can help you to deal with it. I was doing my own thing, she was doing her own thing, trying to find a way of dealing with it, and now we feel we’re getting somewhere with it.”