RICHARD Wright today talked of the moment that could have forced him to watch tonight's Coca-Cola Championship game between Ipswich Town and Southampton at Portman Road from the sidelines.

Elvin King

RICHARD Wright today talked of the moment that could have forced him to watch tonight's Coca-Cola Championship game between Ipswich Town and Southampton at Portman Road from the sidelines.

The Blues goalkeeper, who helped the Saints avoid relegation when loaned to the south coast club from West Ham for the final weeks of last season, blames himself for Preston's second goal in the Lillywhites' 3-2 win at Deepdale on Saturday.

“My initial thought was that the long ball forward was going to bounce into my penalty area,” recalled Wright.

“When I realised it was not going to reach it went through my mind to handle the ball outside the area.

“But that would have meant being sent off for sure.

“It might have stopped a goal, but we would have played for a long while with ten men on Saturday and I would now be sitting out tonight's match.

“The safest thing I could do was to try and header the ball, but this is not the best side of my game!

“Jon Parkin got his head to the ball first, and we conceded a bad goal.

“I hold my hands up and admit my error, but at the time I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Wright has been an ever present in the league since returning to his home town club last summer, and he added: “The two other goals we conceded at Preston were also disappointing ones.

“But we must now look forward and focus on the visit of Southampton.

“I loved my time at St Mary's. It was a tough time, but we came through and on the last day it was as though we had been promoted.

“There is similar warmth about the place that there is at Ipswich and like us they are a Premier League set up.

“There was always the appetite in me to play regularly again, and I have achieved this first with the Saints, and now with Ipswich.

“Ipswich are my team now and tonight is a must win match. After that I want to look as Southampton's results and see that they have done well.”

Wright is looking back to Saturday's defeat as a blip. He said: “We made mistakes at the back, but must move on.

“We enjoyed the majority of possession and played well.

“Our back four, whoever have been playing, has been solid and we fully understand that we must keep on top of everything ad keep in touch with the top six positions.

“We must look to win every game.”

Shane Supple will be on the Town bench after his proposed loan move to Grimsby broke down because Town could not bring in a replacement before the weekend. The League Two side could not wait and swooped for Preston's Wayne Henderson on Friday in time to play the following day.