ALTHOUGH totally content at home and as happy and proud as any new father would be, the fire still rages inside Pablo Counago.The Spanish striker may shrug his shoulders at times and mutter 'manyana' but the anger at what he, and many Town followers, see as the many injustices they have suffered this season, is tangible.

Derek Davis

ALTHOUGH totally content at home and as happy and proud as any new father would be, the fire still rages inside Pablo Counago.

The Spanish striker may shrug his shoulders at times and mutter 'manyana' but the anger at what he, and many Town followers, see as the many injustices they have suffered this season, is tangible.

He hopes he, and Town, can at last get a break this weekend in what could be Sudden-Death Sunday.

Counago revealed he had not trained all last week and only after he passed a fitness test under the watchful eye of physio Mark Endicott on the Deepdale pitch half an hour before the game was he given the all-clear to play.

“Counago said: “I have had fluid in the pubis (pelvic joint) area. I felt better before the game and played.

“I could feel it in some things and it has felt better this week so I will train. It is a bit sore but not a big injury.”

The striker is also sporting a split lip that needed a couple of stitches during the Wolves game but, as he points out with a wry smile, he took the hit without getting a fee kick.

Something that he has noticed, Town in general have not had much joy with this season.

Counago said: “I don't know why but referees don't seem to like Ipswich. We have had some strange decisions go against us. We appreciate it is not easy being a referee, it is a very hard part of he game but all season you will find big decisions have gone against Ipswich.

“Danny Haynes' goal against Cardiff looked fine, there was another against Colchester. Then there was my goal at Burnley which we know was a perfectly good goal but disallowed. When you see these decisions it is strange.

“If those decisions had gone our way we would not need this game. Other teams may point to some decisions also but Ipswich seems to have many things to say about them.”

Dodgy decisions aside Town have also been close to picking up for more points this season and have hit the frame of the goal almost 20 times this season, an astonishing total.

“We have also hit the woodwork a lot of times, or we have deserved to win games and have lost or just drawn.

“But that is all part off football and we have to understand that.

“But it is frustrating when so many things go against you. When goals are not given when even the opposition are surprised they are not.

“In Spain we say 'manyana' we will see what happens tomorrow. Now we have a big game on Sunday and we will see what happens.

West Midlands official Andre Marriner takes charge of Sunday's live televised game against Hull City. He's the man who sent off Fabian Wilnis at Cardiff in November 2005 for a foul on Cameron Jerome.

But that is a thing of the past, much like Counago's first stint at Portman Road, which saw him hit 19 goals in the 2002-03 season, a dozen the following year but found him behind Darren Bent and Shefki Kuqi in his final season.

Although he also scored in the 5-1 win over Crewe in the penultimate game of the regular season he was left out of the play-off squads that were knocked out by West Ham.

Counago said: “I don't dwell on last time. One year was very good and I scored lots of goals but the one after didn't go as well.

“This has been a good season and it has been lovely to come back into the team and the fans.

“Now I hope to keep the dream alive for a few weeks more.”

“Off the pitch it has been wonderful. Being a father is a wonderful feeling, as all fathers out there will understand what I mean.

“I'm very happy off the pitch now I want to make everyone at Ipswich happy and to help them to the Premier League.

“The group of players and staff, the whole club, the Town, all deserve to be in the top division.”

Counago's first born, a son called Iago, arrived a couple of weeks ago in Ipswich and he hopes to take him to Spain to see the rest of his family at the end of the season, which he hopes will be in late May.

Counago said: “They can see him soon, but hopefully they can wait a while longer.”

One other thing that would make Counago even happier is a couple more goals. After netting nine by the middle of December he had hoped to do better than the 12 he now has - something else that adds fuel to the fire of desire.