Town new boy Alex McCarthy is looking to make an instant impact after arriving on a three-month loan from Reading.

The England U21 cap said he hopes to make his debut at Birmingham this evening and insisted he was not put off by the club’s miserable defensive record.

McCarthy, who was 22 last month and stands 6ft 4ins tall, said: “Obviously, I have seen that Ipswich have conceded quite a lot of goals.

“But I am hopeful that will soon change. I want to keep clean sheets and it would be nice to get one on my debut.

“I’ve had a couple of days training with the lads and I am hoping to play at Birmingham, although I know that no manager can guarantee a player anything.”

Town may have conceded more goals — 47 — than any of their Championship rivals, but McCarthy’s record during a recent six-game loan spell with Leeds was impressive.

He only once featured on the losing side, shipping a mere four goals in 540 minutes of football in just over a month at Elland Road.

McCarthy said it was an easy decision to join Ipswich, adding: “After Leeds I wanted to carry on playing — that was my main priority.

“My long-term future is at Reading. I have signed until 2015 but for the time being the most important thing is coming here and playing games.”

He consulted his England Under-21 colleague, ex-Town striker Connor Wickham, and was encouraged with what the Sunderland star had to say.

McCarthy said: “Connor was here for a few years and he said it was a great club to play for. He said there was a good bunch of lads here and a good staff, which made it an easy decision.

“Players need to play and goalkeepers are the same. There is only so much you can do in training and you need to be playing if you are going to reach the next level.”

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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