Something is still missing from the Town squad despite a decent pre-season

As entertaining as the Blues pre-season campaign has been there are still a couple of key ingredients missing in the make-up of Jim Magilton's squad.

Town's summer goal-fest has certainly whet the appetite for Saturday's Championship opener against Preston but, for all Ipswich's free-flowing attacking football, the worry remains that defensively they could be about to come up short once again.

Last night many were pointing the finger at Town's new look back four as West Ham carved them open at will in the second period.

But the protection they were afforded from the midfield was non-existent at times as it was for long spells against Brighton and Gillingham and, although they may get away with that at Portman Road, it will be a different story on the road against Championship opposition.

When Veliche Shumulikoski arrived in January many fans thought the Macedonian could act as the yin to Owen Garvan or Tommy Miller's yang.

But Shumulikoski has since shown he considers himself to be more than just a holding midfielder as his impressive strike against the Hammers demonstrated.

It now means Magilton has got three similar types of player to choose from in the middle of the park and the need to bring in a midfield enforcer was never more apparent than against the east enders.

With Ivan Campo watching from the directors' box ready to discuss a move to Ipswich, it seems that Magilton is fully aware of the need to bring in a player who can break up play and give Town's flair players a platform to build from.

While nobody can doubt that Owen Garvan is one of the best passers of the ball outside of the Premiership, he is no midfield enforcer. The same applies to Tommy Miller ? take away his licence to get forward and you forfeit his ability to make well-timed runs into the opposition's penalty area.

To ask the two to play together requires one to take on more of the defensive burden and this often sees Miller restricted to disciplined role for which he is not ideally suited.

Without at least one holding midfielder, it gives the opposition time to pick holes in the defence as the likes of Scott Parker and Mark Noble ably demonstrated for the Hammers on Monday evening.

It is therefore difficult to pass judgement on Gareth McAuley's time at Portman Road so far although he has obviously impressed off the pitch after being named the new skipper.

His aerial prowess is there for all to see but whether he offers any more mobility than Jason De Vos did at the heart of the back four is open to question.

He may need a more mobile defender alongside him although Tommy Smith's performance against the Hammers showed the youngster is not quite ready to nail down a place in Magilton's first XI. His time will come.

Unless Magilton sees Campo as a central defender, Alex Bruce is likely to get the nod and the Blues boss will hope the 23-year-old can carry on where he left off at the end of last season while Pim Balkestein is likely to be handed the left back gig despite being another who embarked on a “steep learning curve” against West Ham.

Arguably Magilton's two most impressive captures this summer have been in the form of Richard Wright and Kevin Lisbie.

Aside from a shaky first appearance against Gillingham, Wright has slotted straight back into the No.1 jersey, quite literally taking the shirt off Shane Supple's back while Lisbie could prove to be one of the shrewdest pieces of business this summer.

While several Town fans expressed their disappointment that Ipswich did not sign Nicky Maynard from Crewe, Lisbie will prove to be far better value for money this season.

At ?750,000 Ipswich have managed to cut a decent deal for the 29-year-old, who if given the right service will hit more than 20 goals in the coming campaign.

If he can score 17 in a side that finished rock bottom of the Championship last season then I have no doubts he will be able to better that total as long as he can stay clear of injury.

Scoring goals should not be a problem with Lisbie in the side coupled with the guile Pablo Counago offers but the Blues promotion hopes could hinge on keeping the door shut at the other end.

Magilton may have to cast aside the 'entertainers' tag his side earned last season and bring in a couple of seasoned pros willing to take on the ugly side of the game.

He will be hoping someone of Campo's ilk fancies a Championship stint.