Lee hungry to be big success

By Elvin King

A SUCCESSFUL army marches on its stomach, and Alan Lee, who could turn into one of manager Joe Royle's best Ipswich buys, will eat to that.

The 27-year-old said after his

man-of-the-match performance in Saturday's 2-1 Championship win over Burnley at Portman Road that it is the finer points of life that have helped make his move to Suffolk so successful.

“At my previous clubs, you finished training and then shot off in search of a restaurant for a bite to eat on your own,” said Lee.

“Or you went home and made yourself a meal.

“At Ipswich the facilities are such that you can stay behind at the training ground and have lunch with your team mates.

“The club is geared for the Premiership, and this is making a big difference to me.

“I have to be happy with how it is going, but I know I can get better.

“When things were not going right for me at Cardiff, I was not concerned that I had lost my touch. I knew if I was fully fit I could still do a good job at this level.

“It is nice to get my first goal at home as that is something that can prove to be a silly frustration.

“I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to play in front of 25,000 fans every home game - and I have enjoyed every moment of my time at Ipswich.”

Talking about the penalty when he was judged to have been fouled, Lee said: “I am not sure which one of the Burnley players tackled me, but he did get a bit of the ball.

“I was taken down, and a knee went into the back of my head leaving me a bit dazed. I certainly did not say to Michael Duff that I did not think it was a spot kick. The referee obviously thought it was and I back his judgement.

“I took penalties at Rotherham, but knew that Matt (Richards) was the Ipswich kicker and left him to it, not wanting to add any extra pressure.

“I have lost a few pounds of weight in the last few weeks because of the number of games, and I felt up for the game from the start.”