Town goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky already has an EFL Trophy winner’s medal in his possession — but there’s a major reason he would like to win another with Town this season.
Hladky was in the Salford City side that triumphed in the 2020 version of the competition now known, for sponsorship reasons, as the Papa Johns Trophy, but he knows a return trip to Wembley with the Blues would be much more memorable.
Salford collected the trophy in March 2021, after a penalty shootout that followed a goalless draw with holders Portsmouth, but much of the shine was taken off their achievement by the fact that the final had been delayed 11 months, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and no spectators were present.
Hladky was not even a Salford player as the club booked their place at Wembley, but after arriving from St Mirren in the summer of 2020 he went on to play a significant part in his side’s success, firstly by keeping a clean sheet and then by making a key save as his team triumphed 4-2 in the shootout.
History will also show that Salford were the holders for just 24 hours, the final of the 2020/21 competition taking place at the same venue the following day and Sunderland pipping Tranmere 1-0 in a game that also saw spectators absent.
But Hladky’s only season with Salford also saw him receive the League Two Golden Glove award after he kept more clean sheets, 22, than any other goalkeeper in the same division, while he was also named in the League Two Team of the Year by the PFA and the EFL’s League Two Team of the Season to complete a hat-trick of personal accolades.
Back to the present now and Hladky said: "I would love us to have a run in this competition. We spoke about it before the competition had even started and everyone was agreed that it would be great to go all the way and play at Wembley.
"I have had the experience before, of course, when I was at Salford, but I would love to go back to the national stadium again Unfortunately, when I was there with Salford there was no crowd because of the Covid pandemic, so it would be so much better to be there with a massive crowd.
"It’s a competition with a Wembley final so to be a winner was a big thing for me, definitely one of the best experiences of my career so far. But with no fans there it meant no atmosphere and if Ipswich can reach the final, I know that won’t be the situation.”
Asked if he would prefer a quiet night against Arsenal U21 or if he would prefer to be busy making saves, thus providing him with an opportunity to impress, he smiled: "A mix of the two would be nice but when you go out on the pitch the number one aim is always to win and this game will be no different to any other.
"It doesn’t matter whether it is going to be hard for me; we just want the right result to make progress in the competition.
"I believe it is possible to have success in this competition as well as in the league. When the spirit in the group is at a high level you can look to achieve something in both competitions.
"You saw that with Rotherham winning the cup last season, as well as winning promotion to the Championship. And Wigan, who were champions, reached the semi-final as well. I’m not saying it will be easy but I believe it can be done.”
Hladky was in his usual place, on the bench, at Hillsborough on Saturday and shared his colleagues’ disappointment at coming away with only a point from the game against Sheffield Wednesday, in which they led 2-0 with only 15 minutes, plus stoppage time, left to play.
"Yes, it was a big disappointment. It was said in the dressing room afterwards that when you are 2-0 ahead at that stage of the game you should be looking to see the game out and unfortunately we weren’t able to do it,” he added.
"We know it is a good point from one of our main rivals but we also know we could have had all three.
"We are still unbeaten after nine games so we have started the season well. But that is all it is at the moment and we have to keep going. All the players know we must keep the intensity going through to the end of the season.”