Ipswich defender Tommy Smith insists he won’t be haunted by events at Peterborough earlier this season once Saturday’s return fixture at Portman Road is under way.

The embarrassing 7-1 defeat by Posh back in August was the lowest point of Smith’s career as he was red-carded soon after joining the action as a half-time substitute.

But Smith, 21, said: “I won’t be thinking about what happened that day or about getting revenge. As far as I’m concerned it’s another day at the office and we need to get our heads down and pick up the three points.

“It was a tough time for me personally – and the team as a whole – back then. In fact, it was a bad day for everyone connected with the club.

“Thankfully, we have come on in leaps and bounds since then and hopefully we can get the right result this weekend. Things weren’t going my way at the time and that defeat, plus the red card, compounded it.

“It was a low point in my career – probably the lowest yet – but I bounced back. I went away, got my head down in training and worked as hard as I could. Hopefully I’ve come back a better player. We were all low and it shows how far we have come now. We have really turned it around.”

Manager Paul Jewell says he has been impressed with Smith’s attitude and approach: “He has shown a lot of character and that was illustrated in him travelling to New Zealand and back and being ready to play on the Saturday against Bristol City.

“I don’t think Tommy’s character has ever been in question. He’s only 21, 22 later this month, he’s got a long way to go but he’s shown determination and character.

“He went on loan to Colchester, it didn’t work out for him at Colchester. He had a chance to go to Crawley earlier this season but he wanted to stay here. I’ve no problem with Tommy’s character and he’s done well in the last few games.”

Smith & Co have lost just once in their last eight outings, form that is a far cry from the early-season slump that included the heavy defeat at London Road and then the miserable run of seven straight defeats between late October and early December.

The New Zealand defender added: “We are going into the Peterborough game after two away draws at Southampton and Hull, where we were behind each time.

“We were trailing 2-0 at Hull and I think if we had gone two goals down earlier in the season we might have crumbled a little bit. It shows the character that is back in the team to come back from that position and take a point.

“Getting good results has helped restore the self-belief. We now go into every game thinking we can win it.”

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