Marcus Harness would be out on his own at the top of Town’s scoring chart, rather than sharing pole position with Conor Chaplin, and he remains puzzled about the goal that got away.

Harness found the net in the Blues’ 2-2 home draw with Barnsley, only for it to be chalked off by referee Stephen Martin, whose performance came in for criticism afterwards from an angry Kieran McKenna, the Town boss devoting much of his post-match press conference to the official’s performance.

For the time being at least the records show that he and teammate Conor Chaplin are each on five goals for the season so far, although Harness admitted: “It should be six and to be honest I’m counting it as six. Whenever I see that incident replayed, I’m telling myself it was a goal. I’ll never know why it wasn’t allowed to stand.

“The referee told me I’d pulled their man back and that was the only explanation I was given. So, it is what it is — it’s gone.

“If I’m honest, one of my goals against Northampton was probably a foul by me and I got to keep that one so I’ll let it go. I’m still counting it but I’m not going to stay angry about it.”

Harness netted a total of 31 goals in 134 appearances in all competitions for previous club Portsmouth and upon signing for Town he insisted he would have a better goals-per-game ratio in his time at Portman Road.

Why was he so confident? Harness added: “I wasn’t being overconfident, it’s just that I believe I’ve got it in me to do that. I don’t think it’s a given that I will do that but the system, environment and everything else around the club gives me the best opportunity to be at my best.

“If I’m playing to the best of my ability, I would hope to knock the numbers out of the park. I’m buzzing with the way things have started for me and I just want to keep the momentum going.

“I’m trying hard not to overthink it and just keep trying to do the right things. If I can do that I’m confident the numbers will take care of themselves but performance has to come before that.”

Harness scored the key goal at first club Burton in August, drilling the ball past Aston Villa loanee Viljami Sinisalo to ensure Town returned home from the East Midlands with all three points on a night when the home side applied a lot of early pressure on the visitors’ defence.

“That was an enjoyable one, yes,” he said. “I was having a bit of a tough time that night and the home fans were giving me a bit of stick. That one moment, when I managed to score the goal, was amazing. I think you saw it meant a lot to me from my celebrations.

“I think that sort of thing could decide a lot of games in League One this season and I believe, thankfully, that we have a lot of individual quality in our squad to hopefully turn games our way.

“We have several players who could pop up with a special moment to score, whether it’s like that one at Burton or from a set piece from someone like Conor [Chaplin]. I think it bodes well for us this season.”

Talking of goals, Harness agreed it was the right decision that colleague Chaplin was credited with Town’s second goal in the 2-0 win at Accrington after some confusion as to whether his shot took a touch off either Wes Burns or Freddie Ladapo on its way into the net.

He laughed: “I thought Conor scored both the goals and I couldn’t believe it when I heard there might be some doubt about the second one and so many names being thrown into the hat. He’s been given it, which I think was the right decision, so we both have five goals each.

“It’s not really something that has been mentioned between us. I think we’re both just happy to be scoring and as long as we keep winning games, we don’t care who scores the goals. That’s all that matters really.”

Harness is fully focused on tomorrow evening’s home clash with Bristol Rovers, but he briefly looked forward to the visit of his previous club, Portsmouth, to Portman Road on the first day of October, the two teams still unbeaten in the league and only separated by goal difference at the top of League One.

He said: “They have brought in a lot of players and they are doing really well. I haven’t seen any of their games but I’ve kept an eye on all the results in League One and they are clearly doing well.

“It’s an exciting game to look forward to next month but while it will be fun when it comes round, there’s a lot to concentrate on before then.”

Harness agreed that a player departing Fratton Park for another third-tier club, as he did in July, might normally expect to be playing in front of smaller crowds than he had been used to on the south coast.

He added: “It’s definitely not the case for me. I think I’m right in saying we would have had around 27,000 for the Cambridge game if it had gone ahead on Saturday and the numbers have been amazing from the start of the season.

“There’s a really good, positive feeling around the club at the moment and that is reflected in the number of fans who are attending the games.

“We can’t forget those who travel away — they made their presence felt at Accrington recently and it was much appreciated by all the lads. Our aim as players is to keep providing the positive energy to keep that level of support going and to ensure we all, eventually, have a successful season.”

Three years ago, Harness had it confirmed that he was eligible to represent the Republic of Ireland and he admits it would mean a lot to him to play at senior international level, although he admitted: “I haven’t heard anything at all about that for a while. I’ll just keep trying to perform well for Ipswich and that will take care of itself. I haven’t thought about it too much.

“I still have ambitions to play international football but you have to take care of your club form first and foremost and that’s what I intend to do.”

Ipswich-born heavyweight boxer Fabio Wardley, who has won all 13 of his professional fights — 12 by knockout — and is a leading contender to claim the British title, was recently at the training ground where he met Harness and it was an experience the forward clearly enjoyed.

“It was really cool to meet Fabio and have a chat,” he said. “I always enjoy meeting other sports people and hearing how things are for them.

“Fabio is obviously doing very well right now and while our respective sports are very different, there are some similarities, especially in the area of mental strength and preparation, and the way it can affect your level of performance.

“I’m a big fight fan and I would like to go along to one of his fights and support him if it’s at all possible.”

Photos: Matchday Images/PagePix

Vancouver_Blue added 20:14 - Sep 12 Great to hear a striker being confident. Lets hope he scores tomorrow
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Pilgrimblue added 14:25 - Sep 13 He's definitely a striker as he's prepared to have a go. He reminds me of Johnson so hope he reaches the 20+ goals this season.
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