Welcome back to Portman Road for today's Championship game against Bristol City.

It's good to be back on home soil after spending most of the last month on the road. Four away games in our first five matches and extra-time in our two Carling Cup ties has tested the players physically, although that is part of being a professional footballer.

We have used a lot of the same players in those five matches so for that reason and the travelling we have had, the international break is probably not a bad thing for us. It will give the players a chance to recharge their batteries, especially the younger ones who have played more football than perhaps we would have liked at this stage.

The downside of the break is that we have players going away and we hope they come back clear of injury.

Damien [Delaney], Connor [Wickham] and Sparky [Mark Kennedy] will be a lot closer to being available for us when we get back from the break and that will take the numbers back up again. We won't be too far away then but I still think we need one or two more in the squad and we will be looking at the loan market to do that.

Since our last home game against Burnley, we have added Jason Scotland and Darren O'Dea to the squad. Jason hasn't played a lot of football this season and had longer on the pitch than we would have liked, with extra-time at Crewe, but I'm sure he was pleased that we had to throw him in straightaway.

He will bring something different. He is more of a poacher than the other strikers we have here, who do a lot of work down the channels. We are always going on to our front players about being in and around the six yard box and Jason will do that. I'm sure he will score goals for this Football Club.

Darren has settled in well since joining us on loan from Celtic. He's shown he can adapt to playing in another position [left-back] but then I think all players should be able to play in more than one position. He's a good lad. He's only young but he will improve as a player with us.

Andros Townsend is also here on loan from Tottenham. He was very disappointed after his red card at Palace last week. He was a bit high but he's only a young lad and it was a naive challenge rather than anything else.

We looked at the video but decided not to appeal. We did that at Palace last year when Steady [Jon Stead] got sent-off and ended up with an extra game ban.
We missed Andros on Tuesday. He's settled into the squad very well and gives us an attacking threat - and with him not available, it's one light again.

While we have brought in a couple of players lately, we've had plenty going out the other way. Some have moved on because they are not part of my plans. It's only natural that they would be down when they are not in the first-team and that creates a negative energy about the place, even though they are decent lads. It's important for them to move on.

Jon Stead is one player that has left us this week. In an ideal world I would have liked to have kept him here but he had a good offer from Bristol City. One we couldn't match.

He spoke to two or three clubs but even though he had a deal around the corner, he showed a good side to him in his performances for us in that time. We were down to the bare bones and needed him. It's a short career, football, and some players in his situation would have said they are not mentally right to play or they have a virus. Steady didn't. He showed what being a good professional is all about.

I'm sure Steady will get a good reception from the supporters and I'd like to welcome Keith Millen, his staff and the rest of the Bristol players to Portman Road today.

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to send the best wishes of everyone at Ipswich Town to Gary Ablett. Gary is battling against a serious illness, as I'm sure people will know, and our thoughts are with him and his family at this difficult time.