JON Walters has never worked harder in his life - and is loving every minute of it.The Blues forward has been given a new role by manager Jim Magilton, which means he is having to show a new higher level of fitness - but whisper it as he doesn't want to upset his old strike partner.

By Derek Davis

JON Walters has never worked harder in his life - and is loving every minute of it.

The Blues forward has been given a new role by manager Jim Magilton, which means he is having to show a new higher level of fitness - but whisper it as he doesn't want to upset his old strike partner.

Walters has been impressive playing on the right side of midfield but still hopes to weigh in with a few goals.

He said: “It has been good for me so now it is a case of keeping it going.

“It is a different type of work rate. I won't say it is harder as Alan Lee would kill me but you do need to get up and down constantly and pick your moments to get into the box.

“There is a lot of opportunity to get in the box and by arriving late you tend not to get picked up by the centre-halves so there could be plenty of chances for me to score - hopefully, anyway.”

Although he has played as a wide man as part of a three-man attack, Walters is having to learn the new position and has found a willing set of advisors.

He said: “We played three up front at Bolton and the two wide men dropped into a five-man midfield so it is similar but obviously not the same as a 4-4-2.

“David Wright and Tommy Miller have been giving me tips during the game about where to be and Sylvain (Legwinski) helps a lot by telling me where to run and positions to take up. I also watch the videos and the coaches help a lot.”

The former Blackburn and Hull striker, who signed for the Blues in a £100,000 switch from Chester City, was one of the few players who could escape criticism on Tuesday, and he also played well on Saturday against Shefield Wednesday.

But he feels Town need to show a greater consistency, and perhaps be a little cuter at times to protect a lead.

He said: “It was a great result on Saturday but then we suffered the low of Tuesday night so we have to pick ourselves up.

“Plymouth is a hard place to go anyway and they have a lot of good players so we will need to show a lot of character in the squad to bounce back and get a result.

“We need to be more professional when we are up as we were at MK Dons. We need to go to the corners and kill the game rather than keep looking to go forward with just five minutes left and leave ourselves stretched.”

The Blues are expected to make minimal changes at Plymouth today with Magilton naming the same 18-man squad that he picked for Sheffield Wednesday and MK Dons.

Plymouth Argyle (from): Larrieu, McCormack, Sawyer, Connolly, Timar, Doumbe, Seip, Hodges, Norris, Nalis, Buzaky, Halmosi, Chadwick, Hayles, Fallon and Ebanks-Blake.

Ipswich Town (from): Alexander, Supple, Wright, Harding, Wilnis, De Vos, Bruce, Legwinski, Miller, Garvan, Roberts, Peters, O'Callaghan, Walters, Lee, Counago, Clarke and Haynes.