RISING star Ian Miller is seeking to give Jim Magilton a selection headache.Having been farmed out on loan twice in his short Blues career, the 6ft 3in centre-half is keen to return to Portman Road and fight for a first-team starting place.

By Derek Davis

RISING star Ian Miller is seeking to give Jim Magilton a selection headache.

Having been farmed out on loan twice in his short Blues career, the 6ft 3in centre-half is keen to return to Portman Road and fight for a first-team starting place.

While Ipswich Town were struggling to defend set plays and score from open play against Leicester City, Miller scored on his debut for Darlington and kept a clean sheet to send a clear message to the Blues boss.

Miller was recalled from a second spell at Boston as defensive cover but then picked up a back injury. The loan spell with the Quakers is initially for one month but could be extended to three months, although Miller is keen to play Championship football.Miller said: “I'm happy to go out for more experience but ideally I would be able to get back to Ipswich and give Jim a headache by being ready to fight for a place.

“I know Ipswich have been lacking height but they will soon have Jason (De Vos) back and that will help. The gaffer feels it is the right thing for me to go out and get more league experience and I'm happy with that right now.”

His goal in the 2-0 home win against Boston, where he spent a three-month loan spell earlier in the season without finding the net in 12 appearances, was Miller's first in professional football after signing from non-league Bury Town last September for a nominal fee.

Although Miller fitted straight in at Darlington, and accepts it is all good experience, he is not keen to add to his tally of three different clubs in six months.

He said: “I don't want to be known as a player who moves to a lot of different clubs but this is different.

“Although I'm 23, I still have a lot of learning to do and I'm getting plenty of experience playing against the likes of Trevor Benjamin, who was making his debut for Boston, and Julian Joachim, who has played at the highest level.

“You learn a lot more playing against those in League Two than you do against some 17-year-old in a 9-0 win against Oxford Reserves.”

One new team-mate at Darlington, who Miller also expects to learn a lot from, is Alun Armstrong, even though the pair are now on the same amount of goals and the former Town striker has played 28 times for the Quakers this season.

Miller said: “Alun keeps in touch with a lot of the Town players so we have a bit in common. I can see why he likes it here because in many ways it is similar to Ipswich.

“They have a fantastic 26,000-seater stadium and I was astonished at the facilities they have here.

“The manager Dave Penney is a good friend of Jim's from their Oxford days together and has been brilliant with me.”

Scoring against his former mates at York Street didn't go down too well, as the defeat puts the Pilgrims back into the bottom four, although he has been forgiven.

“The Boston lads were really good about it, I have moved on from there, although they did say before the game I had not scored for them so I shouldn't score against them.”

Surprisingly enough, his goal was not a headed effort as many expected.

Miller said: “We had taken a quick free-kick and it was cleared to the edge of the area. I was still making my way up from the back and caught it with my right peg and it flew in from just outside the box.”

Many more like that and he could be recalled to play up front for Ipswich.