Jonas Knudsen admits Town’s home form will have to improve next season, regardless of whether they remain in the Championship or succeed in securing a play-off finish and with it a one-in-four chance of promotion to the top flight.

Mick McCarthy’s men have only gained 30 of their 59 points at home, a far cry from last season when they ended with 50 of their 78 points being collected at Portman Road — a tally that only Middlesbrough were able to match.

“Even if they win all four of their remaining home fixtures it will mean coming up eight points short of last season’s total.

Knudsen, 23, said: “We have dropped too many points at home, that is true, and especially before Christmas.

“Since then we have improved, except against Rotherham of course, and we have to keep going. I don’t think it is any harder to win away games because of the great support of our fans but I can’t deny we have dropped too many points at Portman Road.

“But the only figure that counts is how many points we end up with and it would be very good if we could finish the season on a high by getting enough to end up in the top six.”

Meanwhile, Knudsen has reflected on the story so far of his first season in English football after moving from Esbjerg in his native Denmark on the eve of the current campaign, and is confident he can carry on improving into his second term.

He added: “Hopefully I will be an even better player next season but I am not looking that far ahead at the moment. I want to put in seven good performances and see where I am.

“It has been a season of discovery for me, finding my feet in English football and coping with the schedule in the Championship, often playing three games in a week.

“I feel I have become better over the last eight months and I want to continue to improve. But I won’t be thinking about next season until this season is over because there is still a lot to play for.”

Even if he feels he can continue to improve twice-capped Knudsen has done enough to earn a recall to the Danish national squad and following their failure to book a place at the European Championship being hosted by France this summer the emphasis is on a successful World Cup qualifying campaign leading up to the final stages in Russia two years from now.

He added: “I am in the squad now and we have a new manager. It is important to go there and show him what I can do. I think I have done that in training and I don’t stress about not playing [in the two recent friendlies].

“Being in the squad is a big step and I have played so many games for Ipswich this season that I don’t worry too much if I am not starting for Denmark.

“What I do for Ipswich is the most important thing because the national manager will judge me on how I am playing for my club side.

“If I perform well when he comes to see me it will improve my chances of getting in his first team, which is obviously my target in the longer term.”

Photo: Action Images

bobbyramsey added 07:37 - Apr 5 Bit late now fella, should've thought about this last August.............
1

Gazelle added 09:07 - Apr 5 While you treat every home match as if it's an away game nothing's gonna change.
3

NoCanariesAllowed added 11:40 - Apr 5 Not just the home form - the away form's taken a massive dive since the turn of the year. Think we've only won once on the road since the start of 2016, having previously been the Championship's best performers on our travels in the first half of the season.
1

Cakeman added 15:40 - Apr 5 Boring reading!
-1

chorltonskylineblue added 20:51 - Apr 5 Cakeman - do one then
0

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