Jonathan Douglas is pleased to be making the most of his more attacking role at Portman Road, with Mick McCarthy giving the Irishman a licence to be Ipswich Town’s midfield ‘nuisance’.

The former Brentford captain has now scored in successive games after firing home from range at Rotherham a fortnight ago and then opening the scoring at home to Wolves on Saturday, having spent much of the early weeks of his Town career playing a more defensive role.

Now, following a recent meeting with McCarthy, Douglas, who turned 34 yesterday, has been given licence to get forward and is pleased to have found his scoring form, although he was disappointed his most recent goal didn’t lead to three points in Saturday’s 2-2 draw.

“I’ve got more licence to get in the box now, I’m happy (to score) but at the same time disappointed we didn’t win the game,” he said. “I had a meeting with him (McCarthy) two or three weeks ago and he told me to do my best to get in the box, but not to go gung ho and keep it solid in midfield with Skusey (Cole Skuse).

“It’s a pleasure to play with him, he’s been here for a couple of years now and is definitely one of the best midfielders I’ve ever played with. I’m enjoying playing with him.

“It wasn’t really a pep talk, but I was used to getting in the box because we had a three in centre midfield (at Brentford). That gave me licence to get in the box, so this year the gaffer’s said at the last meeting to get in the box more. Basically, ‘be a nuisance’, which is good, especially when I score.”

Douglas was pleased with his side’s performance during Saturday’s draw with Wolves, if not the ultimate result, but insisted there is still more improvement to come both from the team and from himself.

He said: “There were some players who came in at the start of the season and needed to gel with the players who were here for the last couple of years, so over the last three or four games you can see all the players were singing off the same hymn sheet.

“It’s the whole way we play, it’s totally different to what I played for four or five years at Brentford, so it’s taken me time.

“It’s not the other players, the other players are quality, so it was all down to me and how I was going to cope with playing a different formation with different players.

“I’ve enjoyed it from the moment I came here but maybe I need to get a few more goals to help take the pressure off Murph, Pitts and Freddie up front.”