Town striker Freddie Ladapo has revealed his lack of goals during the early part of his Town career led to him having sleepless nights.
Ladapo, 29, was denied the flying start he had hoped for after rejecting the offer of a new deal at Rotherham and signing for Ipswich on a free transfer during the summer.
But scoring with his very first touch after coming off the bench in the 73rd minute on Saturday, in the 3-2 home win over promotion rivals Portsmouth, made it three in as many games for the Romford-born hitman, who was also on target in the Papa Johns Trophy win over Arsenal U21s and in the 2-1 defeat at Plymouth, the Blues’ first in the league this season that also saw them knocked off the top of the League One table.
Added to the one he netted in the first Papa Johns Trophy group game, a 6-0 defeat of Northampton at Portman Road, it puts Ladapo on four goals from his 13 appearances in all competitions, nine of them in the starting line-up and the other four as a substitute.
While his recent scoring run has not only put a broad smile on the striker’s face, it has also boosted his chances of being in from the start against Cambridge in tomorrow night’s rearranged home match, but he admitted the earlier lack of goals — none in his first nine League One outings — was definitely not the start he had in mind when he completed his move to Suffolk.
Asked how much it bothered him, Ladapo replied: "I was beyond frustrated that I didn’t get goals in my first few games. I had sleepless nights — you can ask my missus and I think even my two-month-old daughter could feel it.
"I was not happy at all but you know what they say, once you get into your groove you start to hit things that you probably wouldn’t have done before. I’m very happy to be out of that phase now.”
While matchwinner Wes Burns’s 80th minute goal, by his own admission due to a stroke of good fortune, clinched all three points and inflicted Pompey’s first defeat of the season, the best of them all was surely Ladapo’s as he swept in a low cross from Leif Davis at the end of a powerful run by the wing-back.
"It was decent first touch, wasn’t it?” he smiled. "I’ll be honest with you; I did quite enjoy it. Me and Leif had a strong relationship going on there; he knew where I was going, I knew where he was going to play the ball and you can’t really wish for much more than that.
"It’s three in three now. I was a bit disappointed not to start on Saturday because I was happy with my recent performances, but after three goals in three games I feel I’m doing well. I’m scoring goals and I want that to continue.
"Actually, it was a crazy game on Saturday. It was a top-of-the-table clash and both teams went at it all the way through to the end. We came out on top and that was the most positive thing to come out of it.
"It was obviously a big win after we had failed to win either of our previous two games but I honestly felt we could have won all three.
"We started off well and took the lead in all three and it was all very positive. Maybe in the first two games it didn’t go as planned but on Saturday we had the faith and the belief to keep going right to the end.
"There is plenty of belief. We believe we are good players and we believe in the manager and his coaching staff, the way they set us up for the games. We all believe in our ability and we need to show it week in, week out, and it’s all coming together quite well.”
It was a major consolation to Ladapo that despite his lack of goals in his first few appearances for Town, he was at least happy with the rest of his game, something manager Kieran McKenna was also keen to emphasise when the striker’s failure to score was being discussed.
He added: "I just want to be doing what’s best for the team by scoring goals to help us win games. I wanted to show my character and prove I was the player they signed to do a job.
"I’m sure the manager and the fans were expecting me to do a lot better than I started off here, so I just had to stay focused and keep my mind and my belief right. I knew that if I kept plugging away and stayed resilient something was going to happen for me.
"The fans have been brilliant for me. They were backing me when things weren’t going too well for me in terms of scoring and I could feel they wanted me to do well.
"I appreciated that but I also understand the frustration that some supporters may have felt towards me before I came out on the other side with my goals. I want to give them many more reasons to cheer and chant for the rest of the season.”