Dinning to leave Town

TONY Dinning will not be kept on by Ipswich Town after his loan spell ends, and has been replaced on the bench by Scott Barron at Highfield Road tomorrow.

Royle said: "I have had to tell Tony that we are not in a position to offer him a contract to extend his stay with us.

"He has done reasonably well for us but we must look to the future. There is money available to bring in one player on loan for a month and I can't use that on Tony."

Dinning is so sure the Blues can win promotion he was desperately hoping to be kept on by Town boss Joe Royle.

Dinning, who won a Second Division Championship medal with Wigan, admits the Town faithful have not seen the best of him but believes he could have contributed to a successful Blues season, even if it meant playing a bit part.

Dinning told the EADT: "I will be back at Wigan on Monday morning and see what happens from there.

"My main aim is to play football and I wouldn't settle for just being in the squad, I would work to be playing regularly.

"But if I had got the chance to stay at Ipswich just to be part of the squad would be brilliant because I know I would always get the chance. Joe showed he was not frightened to put me on with 20 minutes to go to tighten things up and consolidate things."

The Newcastle-born midfielder was frozen out at the JJB after falling out with manager Paul Jewell so even with Wigan short in the centre of the park, especially with Per Frandsen injured long term, Dinning is unlikely to be welcomed back.

Dinning arrived two months ago and made his debut in the draw at Nottingham Forest and then played in the loss at Derby.

His other starts came in the Carling Cup and he then took out-of-form Ian Westlake's place against Plymouth last week.

He said: "It is difficult when you are on loan. I got in the team for two tough away games when we didn't get the results we wanted. Since then Jim (Magilton) has come back and he is a great player who was missed a lot and the team got going again.

"I was disappointed to come off on Saturday but understand the reasons as we had to get a left back on. And then I didn't get involved on Tuesday but the manager made his decision and I have to accept that although I was disappointed.

"The fans did not see the best of me. I did alright in the 45 minutes on my full home debut.

"I could not do an awful lot about what happened but there we were two down after 13 minutes and a man down in less than 30, it could not have been a worse day for me.

"Then to be taken off summed it up although I had no qualms as the manager explained it and as it happened it was a brilliant decision, one of the best he has made this season because the team won and that is what is the most important thing."