IPSWICH Town manager Mick McCarthy hopes competition for places will prevent his players from getting complacent after their impressive 3-1 home win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.

The Blues boss dropped Danny Higginbotham for Luke Chambers in defence, while Luke Hyam caught the eye as injured Nigel Reo-Coker’s replacement in midfield.

Debutant striker Tyrone Barnett did well for an hour, before Daryl Murphy came on and grabbed a late goal.

And that still leaves the likes of Scott Loach, Elliott Hewitt, Andy Drury, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Michael Chopra waiting in the wings.

“There is lots of competition and that is healthy for players,” said new boy Barnett, who is on loan from Championship rivals Peterborough and keen on a permanent switch in the New Year.

“It keeps you sharp in training as you want to keep the shirt. It can only be a good thing.”

McCarthy, who has urged his players not to ‘stroke each others’ egos’ following a return of 10 points from a possible 18, said: “We’re pleased to have Tyrone. He had a good training session on Monday and did well for an hour, but he was always going to struggle to play the whole game with the intensity we decided to play at.

“Murph then went on and got his goal. I thought Luke (Chambers) was excellent too on his return to the team.

“A bit of competition for places can bring a bit of insecurity can’t it? It makes people run a bit more I suppose.”

Right-back Bradley Orr has got better by the game since arriving on loan from Blackburn, but youngster Hewitt – who has struggled with injuries following a �150,000 signing from Macclesfield in the summer – has impressed McCarthy in training.

“Elliott had curly locks back then, I didn’t remember him when I saw him,” said Barnett, a former team-mate of Hewitt’s at Macclesfield.

“He has done well and it is good to see him. He was really young when he started in the first team and he had massive potential.

“You can see it now in training, I think he is a really good player.

“We’ve got Paul (Taylor) to come back too in the future. He’s a great player and moving to a good club will only make him better.

“I like playing with Paul and also the likes of DJ Campbell and Michael Chopra. They are quick and can feed off knock-downs, they are all very good players to play with.”