IPSWICH Town manager Paul Jewell says he doesn’t understand the outcry surrounding his decision to bring in goalkeeper Stephen Henderson on loan from West Ham as a replacement for Scott Loach.

Signed from Watford for �150,000 in the summer, Loach has kept just one clean sheet and conceded 22 goals during his first 12 matches at the club he grew up fanatically supporting as a boy.

Two high-profile errors came in the televised 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff City recently, but the 24-year-old – who made an excellent penalty save against Huddersfield earlier in the campaign – was quickly overwhelmed with messages of support from fans who have loved seeing one of their own out on the pitch.

He will be dropped for tomorrow’s Championship game at Hull City though, with Jewell having brought in 24-year-old Henderson – a player he tried to sign permanently from Portsmouth back in January – on a three-month loan this week.

“Scott has lost a bit of confidence – not just from the Cardiff game, but I think one or two goals have gone in where he hasn’t been at his best,” said the Blues boss. “We’ll take him out of the firing line for a bit and he’ll come back, I’m sure, stronger for it.

“Goalkeepers like to think they’re different to everybody else, but they’re not. If people are having a bad time and not playing well then they get left out. I don’t see the big deal.

“Scott’s a young lad, he’s had ups and downs before and he’s got to take it on the chin like everybody else.

“I haven’t had a chat with him, but I think he knows he hasn’t been at his best lately so we’ve brought somebody else in to push him along. Listen, if anyone doesn’t do well then their place is under threat. No-one’s place is guaranteed, whether they be a loan player or permanent.”

Henderson’s arrival takes the number of loan players at Portman Road to eight, with only three of them set to be at the club beyond the start of January as it stands. Championship clubs can only name five ‘domestic’ loanees in their match day squads, meaning one of Henderson, Danny Higginbotham, Bilel Mohsni, Richie Wellens, Massimo Luongo and DJ Campbell will have to miss out tomorrow.

With new midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker – who is also set to make his Blues debut at the KC Stadium tomorrow – having only signed a three-month contract, it has been a dramatic change in policy from the ‘long-term’ approach that was promised in the summer.