Ipswich Town have completed the signing of Noel Hunt, after the Republic of Ireland forward was released by Leeds United.

The 32-year-old – brother of Town winger Stephen – reached an agreement with Leeds to prematurely cancel his contract, six months ahead of expiration, earlier this week, and has penned a short-term deal at Portman Road that will run until June.

Hunt, who will wear the number 16 shirt, made four substitute appearances for Town at the back end of 2014, memorably scoring a dramatic last-gasp winner at Charlton on his debut.

He will provide much-needed back-up to in-form strikers Murphy and David McGoldrick, with Derby County loanee Conor Sammon ineligible to face his parent club in Saturday’s second versus third Championship clash at Portman Road (12.15pm ko, live on Sky Sports).

Meanwhile, Ipswich Town’s away game against south coast side Brighton has been rearranged for Wednesday, January 21 (7.45pm ko). That’s because the Seagulls will be in FA Cup fourth round action on the original scheduled date – Saturday, January 24 – while Town, should they win their replay against Southampton next Wednesday, will be hosting Crystal Palace.

More than 14,000 tickets – priced at £10 for adults, £5 for concessions and £3 for under-16s – have already been sold for the Southampton game (7.55pm ko, live on BBC One). There have been long queues outside the Portman Road ticket office all day, with the official club website initially struggling to cope with the high demand when tickets were made available to season ticket holders for the first time at 9am.

Season ticket holders’ seats will remain reserved for them to book up until 9am on Saturday, with the match going on general sale at 9am on Friday.