Sone Aluko was happy to show boss Paul Cook what he can do but was disappointed his efforts didn’t result in an Ipswich Town win at Cambridge.
Aluko, a surprise name on the team sheet at the Abbey Stadium, was Town’s best player as his two goals put the Blues in a commanding position, before Cook’s men once again let a lead slip in what was ultimately a 2-2 draw.
It was Aluko’s first league start in a little over a month, with the 32-year-old needing to remain patient at a time when the Blues have a wealth of attacking options.
He took his chance, though, lobbing Cambridge keeper Dimitar Mitov for his first goal before scrambling home his second just before the break. He was watching from the bench as the Blues conceded a late equaliser to Joe Ironside, having been replaced with 20 minutes remaining.
“It’s good to be back in the team and scoring a couple of goals as well so I hope my form continues like that,” Aluko said.
“When you’re not playing you have to just get behind your team and if you can contribute as a sub then you do that. You look at where you can impact the game but I’m a better player on the pitch than I am a sub.
“I’ve sat a few games now since the Bolton game so maybe that’s why my performance level was so high? I just wanted to show the manager I can contribute to this team.
“We have a strong squad, we signed 19 players in the summer and some very good players too. So you have to make sure you show desire and make the selections difficult for the manager. I feel like I’ve done that this week so hopefully I repaid him with the performance.
“Ultimately, though, we want wins. We want to get promoted so the two points dropped are disappointing.”
When asked to assess his side’s performance, Aluko said: “We got up, started well and were controlling the game so to concede just before half-time is a tough one. We’d managed the half well and the second half was about managing the game and seeing it out but, in the end, we fell short.
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“We’ve been good at defending set pieces this season so to concede like that is very disappointing. We work on that a lot, like all teams, and we all know our jobs. If you don’t win the first contact, the second one is crucial and that’s why it hurts.
“We’re a team, it’s not individuals. It’s not just the corner, it’s what happened before and we all take responsibility for that.
“We played very well for long parts of the game so we should give ourselves credit for that, but it’s definitely two points dropped in this one.
“There is only one way out of this and that is to work out, analyse the game and go again.”
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