Recent recruit Conor Chaplin has revealed how it has been drummed into Town players that what they achieve as a team this season will be of paramount importance.

The aim is promotion back to the Championship after a three-season stay in League One and things like players’ own goalscoring targets, for example, will count for nothing unless they are attained in tandem with a return to the second tier of the English game.

Chaplin, who cost in the region of £750,000 from Barnsley towards the end of last month, said: “There are a lot of new players at the club and we’re more interested in winning and picking up three points than any personal achievements. I think that has been laid down from the outset.

“As a striker, of course I’ll be looking to get off the mark as soon as I can, but there is much more to my game than just scoring goals. I think you saw that on Saturday against Morecambe, with the assist for Scott Fraser’s goal.

“I would say I like to make goal contributions, whether it’s scoring, assists or passes that may make an opportunity for someone else to provide an assist. Moments in games that are important — that’s probably something that I look at and that’s where I believe I can really help the team.”

Asked if operating in what has become known as the number 10 role is his preferred position, Chaplin added: “It’s probably perfect, although I wouldn’t say it’s a conventional number 10.

“The gaffer has given me licence to stay high and to drop into pockets when I feel it is necessary and I can affect the game by doing it. The gaffer knows my strengths but that’s probably my best position, yes.

“We’ve got plenty of really good options going forward, something that should stand us in great stead for the season and the marathon that EFL football is. It’s definitely exciting that we have so many options.”

Chaplin played a leading role in Barnsley’s success last season, scoring four times in his 34 Championship appearances, only three of which came as a substitute.

The Tykes defied the odds to qualify for the play-offs, only to lose to Swansea at the semi-final stage.

He added: “First and foremost, we had a team that really worked for each other and I think that’s important in any successful team.

“Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t quite get over the line, so we didn’t really achieve any success. We didn’t win anything and we didn’t win promotion. We got into the play-offs, which was good, but you don’t want to get into the play-offs and just take part.

“We were just a young group of lads that worked our nuts off for each other and that goes a long way, a really long way, but unfortunately not far enough in our case last season. But it was a good season for the club, definitely.”

Chaplin has already scored at Portman Road, back in January 2016 when he put Portsmouth into a 2-1 lead in the 86th minute of their FA Cup third round tie against Town, who snatched an equaliser two minutes later courtesy of Bournemouth loanee Ryan Fraser to force a replay, which Pompey won 2-1.

He recalled: “That was nice at the time. I have some brilliant memories of that day actually and fingers crossed that it was the first of many for me at the ground, although, like I said, helping the team to win games is what matters most.”

Asked if he had been part of any conversation about who will be taking penalties for Town, he added: “No, not yet. I think we’ll have that squabble out on the training pitch when it comes to it!”

Despite dropping down a level to join Town he remains ambitious to reach the highest level he can in the professional game. “I don’t think you would be playing the game at our level if you didn’t have those ambitions,” he explained.

“Everyone wants to play in the Premier League and I’m certainly no different. Obviously I’ve had a taste of the Championship for a couple of years and it’s a level I feel comfortable at and I feel I can operate and play well at that level.

“To go one level higher with Ipswich would definitely be special and it’s something that I will be working at every day to make myself as good as I can be.

“We have a lot of players who have arrived this summer and we’re all in the same boat, which probably makes it easier to get to know each other.

“A lot of us are in hotels so we have already been able to spend a lot of time together off the pitch, which is probably really important.

“There are a lot of really, really good people at the club, both at the training ground and at the stadium.

“That’s also part of the recipe for success so fingers crossed that we do the business.

“It’s a really nice hotel where I am but you want to have your family here with you and things like that. That’s a priority as well but it’s not too bad and fine with me to be honest.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup first round clash with Newport County at Portman Road, he said: “First and foremost the league is our priority. It has been spoken about and no one’s hiding away from that, which I think is important and a good thing.

“But a cup run is good, winning games is good. It doesn’t do any harm at all and momentum is probably the most important thing in football.

“Confidence goes with momentum and they can do wonderful things as well in football. If you are winning games as a football club it does breed success and it breeds a winning mentality, and that’s something we want to achieve here.”

Photo: Matchday Images

bluethruandthru added 13:59 - Aug 9 Papa Johns final win, Playoff final win & a big team in the cups is the dream season.
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