Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy believes Frank Nouble can blossom with an extended run in the side.

The 22-year-old has been pushed from pillar to post since coming through the academy system at Chelsea, Town the 10th club of his fledgling career.

Blues assistant boss Terry Connor saw a raw talent that could honed during his time at former club Wolves though and now manager Mick McCarthy – who snapped him up for a nominal fee back in January – believes he can unlock the potential which was apparent when the athletic front man was selected for the England Under-19s squad.

Nouble has only ever gone beyond five successive starts once before, during a loan spell at Gillingham. He’s now started the last three for the Blues, scoring in the 3-1 home win over Blackburn and then impressing with his energy in the 2-1 victory over Huddersfield and 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

“He’s a constant handful,” admitted McCarthy. “The only way Frank is going to get better is by playing games.

“It’s unfortunate for him that Dids (David McGoldrick) and Murph (Daryl Murphy) have been the best pairing, I think they’ve been terrific together, but the three of them have worked well together.

“I’ve been delighted with Frank. He runs around and that’s good, because if doesn’t run around then he doesn’t play.”

McCarthy has deployed a 4-3-3 system for the last two matches, switching to a 4-5-1 to halt Forest’s growing domination at The City Ground on Saturday.

Nouble certainly did his fair share of defensive work as Town battled their way to another hard-earned point on the road, the draw stretching their unbeaten run to four matches altogether and six away from home.

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