It's been a mixed start to life at Portman Road for Ipswich striker James Norwood.

Arriving from Tranmere after a stellar 2018/19 campaign which saw him bag 32 goals, the English striker was expected to come in and emulate that for Paul Lambert's side.

After an excellent start in east Anglia, his form dipped which ultimately coincided with injury problems that started to appear for the 29-year-old.

“The problem was going on since September really and then I tore my groin,” Norwood told Andy Warrren of the East Anglian Daily Times.

“I was taking three or four pills a day to be able to train and play and before I had my first operation (in October) I had injections before games. I grew up in a place where ‘if you’re injured, you play’ and I was probably doing myself a disservice with my performances from that time on because I wasn’t able to do anything I wanted to do.

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“I was probably playing at about 50 per cent really. It impacted any form of running and I couldn’t really kick a ball with my left foot. Changing direction and jumping was hard – pretty much everything.

“Sometimes the pain killers worked, sometimes they didn’t and it was just a case of trying to get lucky for a game.

Norwood still has managed to record 11 goals and two assists for the Tractorboys despite the injury niggles, but has clearly been affected by these troubles.

The loss of Norwood's consistency up-front has seemed to affect Ipswich, with them currently languishing in tenth spot in the Sky Bet League One table after an encouraging start.

The Tractorboys have lost 12 matches this season in the third tier, more than any other club in the top half of the division - they now sit seven points off the play-offs.

The verdict

Norwood has shown what he is all about at Tranmere last season and in the early stages of this campaign, but these injury troubles have plagued the 29-year-old.

Kayden Jackson has done a decent job in supplementing Norwood's goals, registering 11 goals himself but to really kick on and get near a play-off spot, Town need Norwood firing on all cylinders upon the season's potential resumption.

To be playing at 5o per cent is concerning though somewhat and may surprise many Town fans, surely if that was the case, he should not have been on the pitch? You have to respect his will to fight through the pain, but it's clear it affected his performances considerably from September.