Grant Ward has admitted that there is ‘a bit of banter’ going round in the goalscoring department at Ipswich Town.

Over the Easter weekend, Freddie Sears netted his sixth and seventh goals of the season in the wins over Burton Albion (2-1) and Newcastle United (3-1) to overtake Ward (who has six goals for the season) and currently become Town’s second top goalscorer.

“I think Lozza (Tom Lawrence, 11 goals all competitions) has got it (top goalscorer), but there’s a bit of banter for second,” laughed Ward, who scored an unforgettable hat-trick on his Ipswich Town debut, coming on as a half-time substitute before scoring three goals in a 4-2 win against Barnsley, at Portman Road, on the first day of the 2016/17 season.

“Searsy has been giving me a bit of stick as he overtook me against Newcastle.”

Indeed, Sears could have had his eighth goal of the season had Ward not gone for goal himself, with an effort that dragged wide, late on in the superb win over Newcastle.

“He (Sears) gave me a bit (of stick) after,” laughed Ward.

“But I told him that he’d already got his goal – what more does he want!?

“Freddie’s been playing well, I’m happy for him now he’s back in the team and scoring a few goals for us.”

With three games of the season to go, against Rotherham United (away), Sheffield Wednesday (home), and Nottingham Forest (away), Lawrence leads the charts with 11 goals (nine in the league), followed by Sears (seven), Ward (six), David McGoldrick (five), Luke Chambers (four), and Brett Pitman (four).