IPSWICH Town midfielder Owen Garvan today admitted the pain of not being in the Ipswich Town final squad for their defeat at Watford earlier this month.

Elvin King

IPSWICH Town midfielder Owen Garvan today admitted the pain of not being in the Ipswich Town final squad for their defeat at Watford earlier this month.

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 International is set to keep his place in the Blues' side for tomorrow's Coca-Cola Championship game at Southampton having been one of the star players in Saturday's 2-0 victory over Reading.

And Garvan knows the importance of keeping on his game.

He said: “I had a bug which lasted for 48 hours which led to me missing the Colchester United Carling Cup match, but since then I have been okay.

“The manager has a big squad now and he has a lot of choices and I was not included in the final 16 against Watford.

“This was very disappointing and like every professional you are hurt when you are not playing.

“It showed me that I had to do better in training and show the manager what I could do.

“It was great to be back in the side on Saturday, and it was a very pleasing day with the main thing being that we collected three points.

“Garvan scored twice for the Republic of Ireland Under-21s against Portugal last midweek and is looking to get selected for the full squad.

He added: “To play for my country at senior level is obviously a dream, but I need to be playing regularly for Ipswich Town to achieve that.

“The manager has brought in some good players and we can certainly cope with what there is in the Championship and now we must look to rise up the table, starting with a good result at Southampton.”

Magilton confirmed that Garvan will start at St Mary's Stadium and added: “Owen will get another chance and there is no doubt that the lad has class and a great future here.

“He has the ability and it is a case of finding consistency and if we have seven or eight players showing the desire that we need then we will win matches.

“It is not feasible to have all 11 doing that in one game as individuals have their ups and downs but we had our seven or eight on Saturday and will be looking for the same approach tomorrow.”