Town defender Christophe Berra will face former club Wolves for the first time when they are the visitors to Portman Road tonight for the first of two key home games against promotion rivals.

Berra admits his departure from Molineux represented a rare career low after he was overlooked for the final weeks of the 2012/13 campaign that saw the Midlands outfit suffer back-to-back relegations and end up in League One.

He said: “You could say it never should have happened but you could say the same about a lot of different teams over the years — Nottingham Forest, Leicester and others.

“It’s difficult coming down from the Premier League and Fulham aren’t finding it easy after their relegation to the Championship because it is a different kind of league.

“Looking back, maybe we should have freshened things up. But as a club they have moved on, had a great season last year and are having another good one this year, so all credit to them.

“I played at Wolves for four and a half years and it might be a funny sort of feeling to find myself playing against them. But as soon as you cross that white line you are just focused on playing well and getting a result for your team.

“There is a similarity between Ipswich and Wolves when I went there, although we are operating on a smaller budget here at the moment.

“We have a great team spirit with everyone pulling together and we’re all going in the right direction.

“We’re five points off the top but there’s no point worrying about where we are at the moment — it’s where we are in March and April that matters because that’s the business end of the season.

“We hadn’t won in five games before going to Blackpool at the weekend and picking up all three points. As things stand we have now lost just one in 11 and our aim now is to try to turn the draws into wins, which would soon see our position in the table start to improve.”

With a new contract signed in recent weeks taking him through to 2017 the Scot is settled in Suffolk and said: “I’m 29 and it will take me through to when I’m 32 so it’s a bit of security for me and my family.

“I can just concentrate on my football and hopefully Ipswich will get into the promotion places, or at least reach the play-offs, this season.

“Would I like to end my career here? Well, I don’t know what the future holds but as long as I stay injury free — in the past I’ve been quite fortunate — and keep myself fit I will be looking to stay in the team for as long as I possibly can.”

Photo: Action Images

SouperJim added 09:39 - Nov 4 Probably the best centre half in the division and Mick brought him in for nothing.
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