JAY Emmanuel-Thomas admits he struggled to hit the ground running at Ipswich Town.

Missing out on a full pre-season was a big factor and Town boss Paul Jewell has constantly said the former Arsenal man will show his true colours from next season.

But the man dubbed as JET has begun to build some work-rate behind his undoubted skills and tricks.

And he is clearly loving life now he is an integral part of Jewell’s side, as he tells DAVE GOODERHAM.

ON SETTLING IN AT TOWN: “It was not a culture shock as every team is different and when you go on loan, you learn more about football, different types of play and different people. You get used to things very quickly and I settled in as quick as I can. It is quiet here, I can chill out at home and go out to eat. I just don’t go out on Wednesdays as Cardinal Park is full of people everywhere.”

ON CONCEDING SOFT GOALS: ”I would rather us be conceding goals we can do nothing about than conceding these soft goals. Against Brighton, as an overall performance, I thought we played quite well but we couldn’t score and we couldn’t stop them scoring.”

ON HIS OWN ROLE DEFENSIVELY: “As such an attacking player, we seem to lack concentration defensively more than defenders do. For me, I think I have improved quite a bit – it has been a good transition for me. He has asked me to try and stop the full-back getting involved in the game and I think I have done that quite well.”

ON HIS PARTNERSHIP WITH CARLOS EDWARDS: “Me and Carlos get on really well in and out of football. So it makes it easier to have a good partnership. When you have a partnership, you learn about them as a player – what they want to do and what they don’t want to do.”

ON SHOOTING: “I have had a good shot from a young age so any time I go past the other’s team halfway line, if there is no one there I am going to shoot. And I seem to hit the target more often as well. My right foot is more a placement-type thing – I will have a swing of it if I have to. I’m not really a header guy. I think in my career so far I have only ever scored two headers, both for Cardiff. I don’t often get tap-ins, but my second against West Ham was a bit of tap-in. But I did have to run the full length of the pitch, I had no energy and didn’t know how I made it.”

ON PLAYING IN THE FREE ROLE: “I think that would be my ideal position, but right now Lee Martin is doing a very good job. He has a lot more energy than I do so I guess it is a good thing I am not there!”

ON NEXT SEASON: “Hopefully we can end the season on a high and push up the league. I have benefited a lot from the run of games. When I first came here, I wasn’t unfit but there were players here who were a lot fitter than me. My pre-season (with Arsenal) and theirs were two different types of pre-season. Now that I am playing regularly, I have come on leaps and bounds.”