ALEX Bruce, Ipswich Town's 23-year-old defender, is back in the side for tomorrow's Carling Cup game at home to Wigan and today he revealed that he is ready to sign a new Town contract.

Elvin King

ALEX Bruce, Ipswich Town's 23-year-old defender, is back in the side for tomorrow's Carling Cup game at home to Wigan and today he revealed that he is ready to sign a new Town contract.

Bruce will be up against his father Steve who is the manager of Premier League Wigan with Blues' boss Jim Magilton deciding to give club captain Richard Naylor a well-earned rest.

Bruce is set to come in and his current contract runs out next June.

He said today: “If the manager puts a new contract on the table then I will sign it like a shot.

“It is up to him, and it is up to me to impress him.

“I know my agent has had a couple of chats with the manager and we will see how things go and I have no problems at all in tying my future to this great club.

“My goal when I came here was to help Ipswich into the Premier League, and this is still what I want to do.

“I know we have a larger squad now and that you have to be on your toes all the while to retain a regular place but this is my aim.”

And Bruce rubbished reports during the summer that he had gone on to the internet saying that he wanted to leave Portman Road.

He explained: “It is a load of tripe as I certainly have never said anywhere that I wanted to quit Ipswich Town.

“I certainly put nothing on a website anywhere and I never saw where anybody else had either.

“I knew nothing about it and was amazed when I kept reading stories that had no truth in them at all. It was complete rubbish.”

And Bruce insists that he was unlucky to get a red card in the game against Wolverhampton that saw him suspended for three matches and since unable to get back into the first team.

Bruce, who played in a reserve match last week and travelled to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday but was not in the final squad, said: “I saw at least three similar tackles to mine over the weekend and the players were given yellow cards.

“This did not happen to me and the referee thought I deserved a red, which I think was a bit unlucky for me.

“But that is how the game pans out sometimes and you have to take the rough with the smooth.

“My dad and mum will be at the game tomorrow and they will both be staying with me in my Ipswich flat after the match.

“It does not faze me to play in front of him and hopefully I will have bragging rights when we sit down afterwards to look back on what should be a very exciting game.”