Welcome back to Portman Road for this afternoon's Championship game against Norwich, one of the most eagerly awaited matches of the season.

I relished derby day as a player and I do now as a manager. It's a massive occasion for everyone connected with the two clubs and particularly for the supporters. Bragging rights are up for grabs and the stadium, whether it be here or at Carrow Road, is always rocking. As a player you do not need any added motivation for the game and I am sure we are in for a cracking 90 minutes of football ahead.

Norwich come here fighting for their lives, which makes them a very dangerous opponent, and they will be boosted by a good win on Monday against Watford. Bryan Gunn has done a great job since taking over there and he's a top bloke. He's Norwich through and through, having been at the club as a player, and then on their staff for many years, and he has watched managers come and go at Carrow Road. Bryan felt that it was the right opportunity for him to take on the job and I wish him well _ after today.

While Norwich will come into the game on the back of those three points last Monday, we had a very good performance ourselves at Bristol City and definitely deserved to leave Ashton Gate with a point, even if it was with a last minute penalty from Gio. After the display at home to Doncaster, which clearly wasn't acceptable, I wanted to see a response from the players and I got one. The lads showed a great attitude, a real desire and a real togetherness.

The dressing-room was very low after the Doncaster defeat. The players could have started feeling sorry for themselves _ and mentally that is easy to do when you know your goal, in this case the top six, can't be reached. But they kept going until the final whistle at Bristol and, like I say, fully deserved the reward of that equaliser. The only downside of the trip to Ashton Gate was that we picked up a couple more injuries, to David Wright and Jon Walters.

Jon is blessed with that wonderful gift all footballers want _ the ability to recover quickly from injury. We thought he would be out for the season when he damaged his ankle ligaments at Wolves, but he was back playing again last weekend. Unfortunately he had to come off at Bristol and we will make a late call on him for today's game. Wrighty is definitely out, though, which is a blow, and will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring problem.

On a more positive note, Tommy Smith is making good progress after getting over his broken ankle and played for the reserves in midweek. Hopefully he will get some more football in him before the end of the season. Tommy was in the team at the start of the year and I expect him to be pushing strongly for a place in the side when we get underway next season.

Enjoy the game