ALEX Bruce is being “bribed” to win tomorrow's Ipswich Town Championship game against Derby County at Portman Road.His father Steve is manager of Birmingham City whose promotion chances will be greatly increased by a Rams defeat.

By Elvin King

ALEX Bruce is being “bribed” to win tomorrow's Ipswich Town Championship game against Derby County at Portman Road.

His father Steve is manager of Birmingham City whose promotion chances will be greatly increased by a Rams defeat.

“Dad has already been on the telephone a number of times offering bribes,” said defender Bruce.

“And I want to do him a favour.

“I am sure he will back on the mobile soon after the final whistle tomorrow, and if all works out well the least I expect is a slap-up evening meal.”

Bruce senior has watched a number of Town matches since his son was transferred from Birmingham to Ipswich last summer.

“He likes it in this part of the world,” added Bruce junior. “And we have dined out a number of times in the area.

“Birmingham had a couple of poor results over Easter, but I would like to see them go back to the Premiership.”

Ipswich will be looking to get back to winning ways after suffering a frustrating 2-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on Easter Monday.

And Bruce is confident they can bounce back against Billy Davies' Derby.

“We have shown some good form lately and want to carry that on.

“It was disappointing at Sheffield Wednesday on Monday when the first goal was always going to prove vital.

“And then it was a nightmare when I got in the way of Jason De Vos' goal-bound header.”

Bruce is also looking ahead to next weekend's derby at Norwich, the city of his birth when his father was a Canary player.

“It was a date we all put on our calendars a long while ago. Our fans have not had too much to shout about this season, but two wins against Norwich will give them something to savour.”