Janoi Donacien remains determined to make his mark at Ipswich Town despite acknowledging the uphill battle he faces to break into the Blues’ league side.
The defender, signed from Accrington Stanley by Paul Hurst in 2018, has been restricted to three cup appearances this season, putting in solid displays in his games with Fulham and Gillingham before impressing in the FA Cup loss to Portsmouth.
Donacien is comfortable in all areas of the defence but very much sees himself as a specialist right-back, with that path blocked firstly by evergreen skipper Luke Chambers and also potentially by Kane Vincent-Young, if and when the former Colchester man returns from injury.
He knows he has his work cut out, but the former Aston Villa youth will not stop working to earn a regular place in Paul Lambert’s side.
“Chambo’s come in and been really good so I can’t complain,” Donacien said. “If he was poor then yeah, I’d be upset, but you can’t grumble when the players in front of you are doing well.
“In football if you get a chance then you have to take them, then if you don’t you can’t have any complaints.
“But there’s no pressure. There’s pressure in the world right now so there’s no pressure on me to play football.
“I think and hope there’s a path for me to play games here but I just have to do the best I can when I get these chances in the cup games or whenever I can show it.
“Kane will be back soon so that’s more competition bit it’s up to me to keep my head going and keep pushing.”
Asked how tough it us to play competitive games once a month, before returning to the stands, Donacien said: “It’s hard because you can run as much as you want in training but that will never replicate playing in a game.
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“You can tell where you are and it’s up to you to keep yourself going because you can’t wait for anyone. Especially for me, because of my situation, I have to keep pushing and try to make sure he sees me.
“It’s been hard and it’s definitely a tough one because you want to play as many games as possible. I want to stay here and play and fight for a position.”
Donacien initially moved to Portman Road on loan under Hurst before his move became permanent for a fee of £750,000 in January 2019, following months of red tape relating to the St Lucian’s work permit.
The 27-year-old’s Ipswich contract is up next summer.
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