Former Ipswich Town striker Ian Marshall hopes the Blues’ 6-1 pre-season humbling at League One Charlton Athletic proves to be a blessing in disguise.

With less than a week to go before the start of the new Championship season, Ipswich’s players are licking their wounds following their hammering in London at the weekend.

The Blues host Harry Redknapp’s Birmingham City in their Championship opener on Saturday and are desperate to get off to a flying start.

Another negative result, depending on the nature of the performance, could cause the mood to quickly turn sour in Suffolk and Marshall hopes the nightmare against the Addicks was a freak event.

“It’s a double-edged sword. It was a pre-season game so the result doesn’t count, but equally, you are going to be concerned if you have just lost 6-1 in a pre-season friendly,” said Marshall.

“Hopefully everyone who could have made a mistake made it at Charlton and Mick (McCarthy) and his coaching staff have got a week to work on things that went wrong.

“I am sure he (McCarthy) will be getting about the lads to lift their spirits and this could be the best thing that could have happened to them. We will have to wait and see, but hopefully it’s a big wake-up call.”

Marshall played over 400 games in England, predominantly in the Premier League, and worked under some of the most charismatic figures in the game.

“I played under the likes of Sam Allardyce, Martin O’Neill and Joe Royle, who knew the players and which ones they could give a rollicking to and which ones they had to mollycoddle so to speak,” the former Leicester City and Oldham Athletic man explained.

“We will have to wait and see but it’s imperative that the players come out of the traps quickly, as results like the one at Charlton and then a poor start to the season will only pour petrol on the flames from the fans’ point-of-view.

“It’s a new season but you can’t really say it’s a clean slate for Mick given what happened last season and there will be no honeymoon period for him.”

McCarthy is entering the final year of his current deal, having led Town to their lowest league finish for 58 years last term, and Marshall said: “It’s a big season for Mick and a big season for Ipswich.

“The fans don’t want to be in the doldrums again.”