Midfielder Ben Pringle is delighted that his first two Town goals have seen the Blues to successive wins and put his side firmly back in the play-off race. Having netted the only goal at Huddersfield last week, the on-loan Fulham man repeated the trick as Town beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at Portman Road on Saturday.

"The whole point of coming here on loan was to play and enjoy my football again,” the 26-year-old said. “I'm delighted to have contributed with my two goals and two wins.”

Pringle says Blues boss Mick McCarthy has told the players not to get too concerned by the match-to-match fluctuations of the play-off race with ninth-placed Town now a point off the play-offs having been seven points away only just over a week ago.

"The manager has said for us not to get too excited when we are near them and don't get too annoyed when we are not,” he added.

"We still have many games to go and it is very tight. As we have shown, you win a couple of games and you move up so we try not to get too sucked in by it all."

Reflecting on Saturday’s match, he said: "It was another good win and another three points. That's what it is about. No matter how we play we kept going and ground it out again.

"Bart pulled off a couple of good saves early on, which is what you want from your goalkeeper, then we managed to see off the threat before we played some good stuff and managed to nick it.”

Having joined Town early last month - his initial one-month loan deal includes an option for it to be extended until the end of the season - Pringle has had time to judge whether he and his team-mates are realistic top-six contenders.

"I have seen enough here to get into play-offs,” he insisted. “It is about how teams play and the manager knows what it takes to get out of this league.

"Some managers try to play football and try and pass their way to success.

“You can't do that in the Championship. You have to play the long ball, you have to fight and scrap as we have shown in the past two games, which have got us six points.”

He added: ”Nothing could be worse than the football at Huddersfield so it had to be better against Forest and at times we played some nice football and managed to put them on the back foot.”

Pringle, who joined Fulham on a two-year deal with an option for a further season after leaving Rotherham last summer, hadn’t started a game for the Cottagers since early December prior to joining the Blues and he says he’s getting closer to his best with every match: "I felt better and as each game comes I feel fitter and stronger.”

Meanwhile, Town’s U21s are in action away against Watford at the UCL Sports Ground (KO 2pm).

Photo: Action Images

osborne added 06:26 - Mar 7 Onwards and upwards Town and Pringles. A hattrick of winning goals would be handy. Come on Town
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Mark added 06:38 - Mar 7 "Some managers try to play football and try and pass their way to success. You can't do that in the Championship." We'll have to lend him the 1999/00 promotion season video. :-) It's good to have Ben Pringle on board and I hope we can make his signing permanent in the summer on a free transfer, although I guess if he continues to do so well Fulham might want a fee.
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IndianTractorBoy added 06:47 - Mar 7 Summer signing please
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hoppy added 07:15 - Mar 7 Signing Pringle (and Foley) on loan is beginning to look quite an astute decision by Mick, and not just a blonde moment... Keep it up, and let's carry on playing our way to the playoffs. Now we've steadied the ship with a couple of 1-0 wins, we could do with a few goalfests to boost our goal difference. A handsome win at Bolton tomorrow would be a fine place to start!
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hampstead_blue added 07:29 - Mar 7 "You have to play long ball".... Tell Eddie Howe that, tell Mark Warburton at Brentford that..... Not sure I agree with him on that one.
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blueherts added 07:45 - Mar 7 Wow he hasaid drunk from the 'long ball fountain'by sound of it BUT Saturday was better and he is a goal scoring midfielder ! Can't wait for a team with Dozzellis in the midfield ! Maybe DIds be back then .we'll done FOLEY as well MM respect for that one as well
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ITFCGloryDays added 07:51 - Mar 7 Nicely summed up, '...nothing could be worse than the football at Huddersfield so it had to be better against Forest'
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essex57 added 08:01 - Mar 7 Let's hope we can sign him up good player and obviously knows how to to pass the ball also at times you need to scrap and play the long ball. Hampstead blue don't see how Warburton Brentford come into it they got no further than us last year and look where they are now.
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essexboy added 08:25 - Mar 7 Pringle is proving to be a very good asset,but I believe he signed a long contract at Fulham,so he may well cost a fair bit if they wish to sell him and of course if he wants to play for us.But,nevertheless a good loan signing.Roll on tomorrow night.
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Bluebell added 08:28 - Mar 7 Great to hear Mick say in his interview that we can keep Pringle for the rest of the season and the only reason they agreed on a month was because if they allow the international break in between we will have him for the play-offs should we get there. Let's hope Fulham still agree to this because they could do with someone like Pringle at the moment!
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muccletonjoe added 08:33 - Mar 7 Pringle is a very good addition and means we might well be able to get over the loss of Fraser, will be interesting to see if mm keeps hyam and foley together in central midfield, these two looked the best pairing we have had there all season.
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BlueMachines added 08:46 - Mar 7 Sorry, unrelated to this story. I had a private message from markwill45 last night. I thought I would shame him by posting it on here rather than stoop to his level and reply. What a shame reasoned debate is not available to some. It's sad that they just don't have the intellect to make a valid point without resorting to playground like name calling. From: markwill45 To: BlueMachines Subject: Boring bar steward Date: 01:37 - Mar 7 | Delete Msg You are so negative why don't you Moan elsewhere you big baby. --- For the record my comments were very positive after Saturday. Markwill45, I suggest you grow up. @PhilTWTD, I suggest such idiocy is rewarded by blocking their account.

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IpswichT62OldBoy added 08:57 - Mar 7 Does he have your email addresses?
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essexboy added 09:02 - Mar 7 Hi posters,I also had a very offensive post late last night from Markwill45.i won't repeat it on here but I'm not very happy and I have informed Phil of this.
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Bert added 09:12 - Mar 7 Some very childish posters on here. MM has proved again that he has a good eye for loan players . Experience is what is needed at this time of the season but in Foley and Pringle we also have some quality.
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Kikapu added 09:32 - Mar 7 Yesterday I had an email from a old school life-long Fulham supporting friend of mine, ''Can we have Pringle back, please?'' I think you can guess what my answer was.
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JewellintheTown added 09:35 - Mar 7 I too keep getting offensive messages from Markwill45. I've got told to: "Get a shower, you stink like a drunk." "I don't care how cold it is, you need to walk the dog". "No, twice a month is perfectly normal", and "No, it's not got any bigger, it's always been that size". What?! I feel insulted. Ban him. .. oh, wait, those are message from the missus. Carry on.

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ronnyd added 10:19 - Mar 7 Just ignore the idiot, after all, they are only words when alls said and done.
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PhilTWTD added 10:50 - Mar 7 Re those who have received offensive PMs from markwill45 we've banned him. That sort of nonsense isn't welcome! Thanks to those who alerted us to it.
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Kirbmeister added 10:55 - Mar 7 Bearing in mind the majority have wanted MM sacked for weeks now, is his job safe for the moment or not?
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hoppy added 11:36 - Mar 7 Kirbmeister - which 'majority' is this, that have wanted MM sacked for weeks? The majority of whom?
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Kirbmeister added 12:44 - Mar 7 The majority on this site.
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hoppy added 15:35 - Mar 7 Kirbmeister - I wouldn't say that was the case really, certainly doesn't seem so on the forum anyway. Unless you just spelled 'minority' wrongly?
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