Grant Leadbitter has admitted he is only focused on winning football matches rather than winning a new contract with the Blues.

The Town skipper is in the last year of his present deal and his manager Paul Jewell believed interest from Championship rivals Portsmouth last month had affected the midfielder’s form.

But the 25-year-old is now only concentrating on helping Ipswich move up the Championship table – starting with today’s testing trip to Middlesbrough.

He said: “The contract talks have not been playing on my mind. That’s football, I just get on with it. The most important thing is what happens on the pitch. I am only concerned about getting back to winning ways – that is the main thing and that is what we all want.”

And Leadbitter has insisted that he won’t follow in the footsteps of former team mates Gareth McAuley and David Norris who were unable to agree new terms and walked away for nothing.

The skipper declared: “Of course I want to stay at Ipswich Town, get promoted and be successful. We have good players and good players make a good team.

“I might be quiet but every captain is different and I am very proud to wear the armband. We have many players in the team who are loud and any one of them could be captain. I just look to inspire by playing well.”

After an indifferent start to the season, which saw some fans question whether Leadbitter should be in the team let alone be captain, the former Sunderland midfielder bounced back against Coventry City on Monday night.

And he admitted: “Obviously I know when I have played badly and I went through a spell of three of four games when I wasn’t playing well.

“But I know I’m a good player in a good team. I just want to put those games out of my mind and move on.”