Ricardo Fuller's loan has ended with the Jamaican frontman suspended for Saturday's match against Hull, the final game of his month at Portman Road, and the board unwilling to extend his stay any further. Fuller's red card at Crystal Palace means he is suspended for two matches.
Boss Joe Royle told the club site that ideally he would have preferred the 26-year-old to have remained with the Blues for longer: "It's been well documented that I would have liked to have kept him, but I can understand the board's position as well with the player being on Premiership wages, and he's going back to Southampton."
The decision by the Town moneymen not to give Royle the cash to keep Fuller for a second month suggests that they, like most fans, feel that the Blues' play-off push is at an end.
However, Royle may well look at bringing the former Preston, Palace and Portsmouth man back to Portman Road in the summer.
Fuller's short spell with Town yielded two goals in three games plus two yellow cards and one red.