DARREN Bent is not bothered by Joe Royle's persistence in trying to bring in a new striker – and is determined to win back his starting place.

DARREN Bent is not bothered by Joe Royle's persistence in trying to bring in a new striker – and is determined to win back his starting place, writes Derek Davis.

The England Under-21 international, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Friday, is recovering from a knee injury and has twice been used as a half-time substitute in successive games.

Blues' boss Royle has been looking to bring in another front man on loan for more than a month now, something Bent is not convinced the league's leading scorers need to do.

Bent said: "It is going to be hard to push back into the team but all I can do is work as hard as I can and convince the manager to start me.

"We have a fantastic squad here and I don't see we need any new players, but if the Gaffer feels we do then that is what he will do."

Just as Bent would love to get back in among the goals, so he feels the team need to get back on an even keel.

He said: "We are very inconsistent. Some games we play very well, others not well at all so we really need to find a balance.

"What we really need to do is get a good result at home against Bradford City on Saturday and go on from there.

"We need to keep believing. The players need to carry on working hard and the fans to keep faith in us and I'm sure we will come good."

Bent hit the crossbar and set up a couple of good chances for team-mates as Town played better in the second half. But he admitted, Wigan were worthy winners.

He said: "We didn't play very well at all, especially first half, but we came back strong in the second half although it just was not to be. Wigan were a different class going forward especially with Alan Mahon now, who we knew all about."

Bent's next start for Ipswich will be his 50th for the club, to add to 25 substitute appearances.

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk