Christian Walton returns with Town to first club Plymouth Argyle on Sunday fully expecting a tight affair to compare with other recent meetings between the sides at League One level.
The teams have been separated by just one goal in each of their last four clashes, with the Blues winning three times to the Pilgrims’ once, and Walton is anticipating more of the same this weekend in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
Goalkeeper Walton said: "Plymouth are a good team. They have probably built on what they had last year and from what we’ve seen they are a well-coached team.
"The performances they have put in, and the results they have picked up, have been really good this season, so we are expecting a tough game.
"The most important thing is that we go there and show what we can do by laying our style on the game, and hopefully coming away with three points.”
The keeper will be making the 200th league appearance of a career that started at Home Park with the club he followed as a child, although his first competitive appearance for Argyle came after he had moved to Brighton. Returning on loan, he played in the Devon derby against Exeter, who went home with all three points courtesy of a 2-1 win.
Asked about previous games in which he lined up against Plymouth, he responded: "No different to any other game really. It’s all talk and once you get into the game you forget about things like that.
"I always get a good welcome there, although maybe that’s passed by a bit now, but I’d like to think they would recognise me as a player who came through their academy.
"I don’t think it’s a strong relationship with the fans because I didn’t play there for a long period of time and I didn’t play a lot of games for them either.
"Plymouth have a big fanbase and I know a lot of their fans. It’s a good club, a well-supported club and one that gave me a lot of happy memories.
"I’ve taken up about 33 per cent of the players’ tickets for the game, but it’s only a small allowance. Not many of the lads need tickets because it’s at 12.30 on a Sunday and it’s live on Sky.
"I’ve got friends and family who go to a lot of the Plymouth games and although it’s still an hour away from where I was brought up it’s a lot closer than Ipswich. They’ll be in the Ipswich end so they will have to support us.”
Walton is not alone in graduating from the Argyle academy, since current number one Michael Cooper took exactly the same route and recently completed a century of league appearances for the club and, like Walton, has kept five clean sheets in nine games this term.
"I don’t know a massive amount about Michael,” added Walton, "but I’ve seen him against us and heard a lot from people who see him regularly. It’s good that he’s doing really well and it’s good for the club to produce another keeper from the academy. I briefly remember him there but he’s a few years younger than me.
"It’s also good for the academy goalkeeping coach, Rhys Wilmot, who brought us through. I also met my current coach, Rene Gilmartin, at Plymouth. He came in to play in the first team and I trained with him pretty much every day for about six months before I moved to Brighton.
"I’ve known Rene for some time and he has had a big influence on my career. He’s now helping me to improve as a goalkeeper and I’m helping him to improve as a coach.”
According to Walton, the fact that the game is being screened live on Sky Sports is of little consequence to the players, and he added: "It’s good to be on Sky but it’s no drama for the players and we don’t talk a lot about it. But it’s an opportunity for people to see how good a team we are, a platform to show our qualities both collectively and individually.”
Town head to Devon having dropped two points at Sheffield Wednesday last week. Trailing 2-0, the Owls staged a late second-half fightback, although Walton remains convinced the equaliser scored by ex-Rotherham striker Michael Smith should have been flagged offside.
He said: "I appealed for it straight away and when I saw the replay it was clear that if we’d had VAR it would have been a 2-1 win. Having said that, it’s up to us to stop them breaking into our box and creating those chances. I don’t think we can just rely on an offside call.”
Walton was also relieved that home midfielder Barry Bannon was unsuccessful with an attempt to score from distance when a clearance from the keeper presented the Scotland international with an opportunity on his trusted left foot, the Hillsborough favourite seeing his effort bounce in front of goal and sail over the bar.
"That was a bit of a heart in mouth moment,” Walton said. "If it had gone in, I would have just congratulated him on hitting the target from about 70 yards. I don’t think I could have hit it any better to his left foot — it couldn’t have gone anywhere else more perfect for him.
"Ideally, I’d have liked it to land around his head or chest, but straight to his left foot wasn’t the best idea. It was just one of those things, trying to overhit the ball and dragging it inside, but fair play to him for a decent effort. I’ll admit I was panicking for a few seconds.”