SKIPPER Jason De Vos today insisted that Ipswich can have something to celebrate this season.And the Canadian defender is particularly keen that his side make more of their home advantage, starting with tomorrow's visit of in-form Sheffield Wednesday to Portman Road.

By Mel Henderson

SKIPPER Jason De Vos today insisted that Ipswich can have something to celebrate this season.

And the Canadian defender is particularly keen that his side make more of their home advantage, starting with tomorrow's visit of in-form Sheffield Wednesday to Portman Road.

De Vos said: “Home form is the foundation for any success and as far as I'm concerned we have conceded too many points at home already this season.

“We need to turn what we have here - great stadium, great pitch, great fans - to our advantage.

“Other teams come here and are buoyed by what they see but we need to nullify that by getting on top of them early on and making it count.”

De Vos sees a bright long-term future for the club but refused to fall in line with those who see the current campaign as merely a period of transition or consolidation.

He added: “Luton came here on the back of a 5-1 win over Leeds, full of confidence and scoring for fun.

“But even after we beat them 5-0 the pundits seemed quite unimpressed.

“I don't know that we could have done any more to impress on the day but I heard some people say 'I still don't think they're good enough'.

“Wednesday are not going to be a push- over. They are on a good run and they also have a new manager whom the players will be all out to impress.

“But it's about us and how we play. It would be great to think that we could repeat the Luton performance all over again.

“We are a team with a lot of young players and in that situation you are striving for consistency and it sometimes takes a while to achieve that.

“Last season I remember how we went on a bit of a run, something like 11 games unbeaten I think, and it put us within touching distance of the play-offs.

“It was only when we lost away at Preston that it fell apart for us.

“It was an up and down season but we can take some hope from that.

“Our aim is to get another run going and then build on it and hopefully it will be enough to see us sneak into the play-offs.”

De Vos will be in his usual place at the heart of the Town defence for the visit of the Owls, unbeaten in their last four games.

He added: “We are about a third of the way through the season and it is within our reach to get into the top six.

“It is certainly something that we are striving for and there is enough of the season left for us to do it.”