Town midfielder Lee Evans will return to competitive action for the first time in more than six months in tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup first round tie against Bristol Rovers at Portman Road.
Evans, an unused substitute at the Stadium of Light on Sunday as the Blues defeated Sunderland 2-1 in their first taste of Championship football in four years, was a frustrated onlooker as Kieran McKenna’s team sealed promotion from League One last term.
He has not featured in the first team since suffering a knee injury in the 1-1 draw at Cambridge in early February and is likely to captain a much-changed side as McKenna rests most, if not all, those who started at the weekend.
Evans, 29, said: "I feel good. It’s been a long time since I played but I’ve been fit throughout pre-season and I’m champing at the bit, ready to go tomorrow night.
"I had to look on last season as the boys put an incredible run together to win promotion, so there was a tinge of disappointment, of course, because I felt I started last season really well.
"I was probably playing the best football I had played in a long time. But these things happen; I was just doing my bit off the pitch to keep the boys going and to get them through it.
"They were fantastic and I think we just want to keep it going at the start of this season and for as long as possible.
"While I was injured, everyone at the club was great with me. We have a lot of staff at the club but it’s a tough place to be when you’re injured. It can be a lonely place at times but the rest of the boys, the staff, they were all fantastic and for me it was just a case of getting my head down to work on my recovery, doing my rehab as well as I could and getting fully fit again.
"My aim was to get as fit as I could be for the start of pre-season, then to have a good pre-season and I think that’s what I have done. I’m 100 per cent now, good to go. It’s going to be a good occasion, the first game on our brand new pitch and I think we’re going to get a good crowd in as well.
"It’s an important competition for the club and there are a lot of boys looking to go out and put in a good performance.
"It’s a long old season and it’s a squad game. Everyone is going to be needed and we just need to be as fit as we can be and playing well, and I’m sure the manager will be changing the team from game to game, so it’s important that we are ready when called upon.
"We all want to play, which is only natural, and the competition for places is good for the club. This is a fantastic club to play for, which I experienced at the start of last season and before I got injured, and it’s the same for all the lads.
"We just have to be ready and then do our best when we get the chance. Sunday’s game showed the ability we have in the squad and everyone is playing well, so the lads who didn’t play know only too well about the competition and what they have to do.
"For me, it’s about training well and doing well when I get the chance to try to gain a place in the first team.
"Bristol Rovers are a good team and we know them from last season. They’re a good team with a good manager and they will be coming here to try to get a positive result and get through to the next round.
"But we want to have as good a run as we can in this competition, so we also want to get through.
"We have so much depth to the squad and a lot of the players, especially those who didn’t get any minutes at the weekend, are looking forward to this game.
"It will be the first competitive game since last season for quite a few of us. The manager will have his thoughts on not only Bristol Rovers, but also Stoke on Saturday, but it doesn’t really matter who he picks because whoever plays, they will all be looking to put on a good performance and earn a good result.”
The former Wigan midfielder, now in his third season with the Blues, is looking forward to his first appearance on the new Portman Road playing surface, installed during the summer along with an undersoil heating system that underlines the new owners’ ambitions for the club.
Evans added: "I think it is definitely going to benefit the club in the long term, which is why the investment has been made, and we’re all looking forward to getting out there.
"You come across all kinds of pitches in a season and as long as it’s not a bog, which we occasionally got last season but probably won’t experience as often in the Championship, players won’t complain.
"It’s a good thing for the club and we’re all excited about it. It should be perfect for our style of play and the pace at which we want to play, so if there’s a small advantage with the pitch, we’ll look to take that into the games and make the most of it.”
The squad trained on the new pitch, a mix of natural and artificial grass, for the first time this morning in order to get used to the surface.
Evans was told that league Championship-winning boss Alf Ramsey, whose Town team stunned English football by winning the top domestic prize in the 1961/62 season, frequently used the main pitch for training sessions as he wanted every one of his players to be familiar with it.
"We’ve been getting used to the pitch, plus the new surrounding area as well, as part of our preparations,” he said.
"It’s important to get a feel for the new pitch before we go out to play competitive games on it and it’s another development that shows what a fantastic football club this is.
"None of us need telling we are at a big club and how lucky we are to be playing for it. We all know that and the pitch isn’t going to change that or the history of the club.
"But the appearance of the stadium has changed in my time here – the big screen, the digital advertising boards last season for example – and now the pitch.
"They are nice things that the club has wanted to put in place and they show how ambitious the club is and how much the ownership group want it the ground to have a top-level look and feel to it.”