In recent years Ipswich have been okay at the former but pretty woeful at the latter, in particular under Joe Royle and Jim Magilton's tenures, a Town clean sheet has been as scarce as a Harrods hamper at Sandringham House at Christmas.

The obvious conclusion would be that we have had poor defenders and goalkeepers but this would overlook the real reason for this trend; our midfield. Or more precisely, what our midfield does with the ball and without it.

This decade has seen Town teams that love to flood forward with midfielders with an eye for goal, like Matt Holland and Tommy Miller, or playmakers, like Magilton and Owen Garvan.

But how effective were any of these players at stopping the opposition from scoring, either by breaking up attacks or shielding a vulnerable defence?

I would struggle to name a good quality anchor-man in our midfield since Geraint Williams a decade ago, an essential role that the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool shell out in the region of £20million for.

Hopefully Town have finally found a player to anchor our team in Macedonian Velice 'Shumi' Sumulikoski.

Although his thunderbolt of an opener against Blackpool suggests he will be more prolific than Williams (who netted on average once every 75 games), it was the less glamourous part of his game that caught my eye; a foot in to break up an attack, harrying his opponent and an instant barrier in front of our defence when Town lost possession.

With the spectre of Finidi George looming large after any impressive Portman Road debut, I don't want to get my expectations of Shumi too high, too quickly, but he has certainly made an early impact and at this stage looks a real find.

In contrast big-money signing David Norris has had a quieter start to his first four Town games but you can already see that the
hard-working midfielder fits into Jim's new style that will make Town harder to score against and ultimately beat.

It is becoming more apparent that Jim saw the addition of steel to our midfield, rather than a new winger or striker, as the essential missing component for our promotion push.

It will be an intriguing early examination of how resolute this new Town team is when we have to stand up to the onslaught intimidating league-leaders Stoke City will launch at us tomorrow.