RICHARD Wright has welcomed the challenge to his No. 1 position by two new keepers.

Derek Davis

RICHARD Wright has welcomed the challenge to his No. 1 position by two new keepers.

The former England keeper sent a further reminder to current national boss Fabio Capello with another outstanding performance at West Brom but is not taking anything for granted.

With Shane Supple announcing his retirement from football in midweek, Town have signed free agent Arran Lee-Barratt and Wright is also looking forward to seeing Brian Murphy come in from Bohemians.

Wright said: “Brian is coming in January so there will be competition for places which is what we need.

“I knew of Arran as a youngster when he was at the Academy but not too well.

“He has been training with us for the past three weeks or so and the surprise announcement gave Arran the chance to join the club.

“It fell into place for him and he was on the doorstep and he has been very good in training.”

Wright admits he was stunned at Supple's decision to quit and return to Dublin where he will weigh up his options before deciding his future career.

He said: “I was pretty close to Supps and just never saw it coming.

“He has made his decision and we all respect that and wish him all the very best. I'm sure that whatever he puts his mind to doing he will be a success at it.

“It would have been easy for him to stay sitting there picking up a good wage as a footballer but the sort of character Supps is he wants to be doing things and not just be sat around.

Wright, who won promotion with Ipswich in 2000, is staying upbeat despite Town picking up just one point from a possible 12.

He said: “We have to be positive. It is disappointing that we are not getting maximum points.

“The manager has changed players and that takes time. We have to get on with it. Hopefully we will do well in the cup game then again at home on Saturday.

“The manager has been very honest. The players know what to expect and we know what we have to do. It is as simple as that.”

Wright saved a Luke Moore penalty and made a string of top saves but could not prevent the loss on Saturday. He said: “It hit my toe and bounced back and I got a bit of help from Alex (Bruce).

“It is frustrating because you want to do well personally but it has to be a team thing.

“I take the positives out of the game for myself but I was disappointing at losing.

“You can't come to a place like West Brom and give them a two-goal start then expect to get something from the game.”

Wright feels Town need to start taking their destiny into their own hands.

He said: “We are going out in games and waiting for things to happen rather than making things happen. We are giving away goals we know we should deal with better.”