Midfielder wants to be in Nottingham Forest’s position this time next season.

JEALOUSLY is not necessarily a bad trait.

And the fact that Ipswich Town midfielder, David Norris, is envious of Nottingham Forest’s position in the league, could be a good omen for the future.

Town were soundly beaten 3-0 by Forest at a sun-drenched City Ground on Saturday, undone by second-half goals from Luke Chambers, Guy Moussi and Robert Earnshaw.

The result confirmed Forest’s place in the end-of-season play-offs, while at the same time confirming just how far Town are adrift of becoming a promotion force themselves for next season.

To make matters worse for Roy Keane’s men, influential centre-half Damien Delaney limped off with an ankle ligament injury that is set to sideline him for the last three games of the campaign.

“Forest up there for a reason, and that showed today,” confessed Norris.

“They are where we want to be. Forest are one of the better teams, but there are better times ahead for us.

“It was a better defeat than when we lost to Watford and Plymouth. We were beaten by a good team, after giving a good account of ourselves for 45 minutes or so. Against Watford and Plymouth, we were terrible!

“We‘re on a decent run, and giving our fans hope for next season. We are heading in the right direction, so there is something to look forward to,” added Norris.

If anything, Town shaded the first half. Norris came closest to breaking the deadlock with a shot that was hacked off the goal-line by defender Kelvin Wilson.

The ex-Plymouth midfielder was also close to scoring a consolation goal late on. His 10-yard shot looped over the bar, taking a deflection off a defender.

Despite the decisiveness of the defeat, Norris remains confident that Town can bounce back at home to mid-table Doncaster Rovers on Saturday. Town are still in 13th position, their highest league standing of the season.

“We will find out on Saturday whether this is just a blip. We tend to react to defeats well,” insisted Norris.

“If we beat Doncaster, then we can look back on this as a minor blip.

“The first goal was massive in this game. I thought we had contained them in the first half. We felt comfortable and the crowd had started to get on their backs.

“But conceding early in the second half put a spanner in the works.

It’s a shame that we did not respond in the way we should have,”

concluded Norris.