‘It’s about taking every minute you can on the pitch. I always do’

Ipswich Town wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of salvation right now.

That it is Alan Judge’s is extraordinary.

Rooted to the bottom of the Championship table, the East Anglian side is 13 points adrift of safety with only eight games to play.

Their situation was just as grave when Judge swapped the comparative security of mid-table with Brentford in January to join Paul Lambert’s crew even as they craned their necks up at 23 other clubs.

“Yeah, it is relief, really,” he said whilst on international duty.

Context tells us everything. Rewind three seasons and he was in the sort of form that would see him shortlisted for Championship player of the year, his 14 goals and 38 games for the Bees taking him to the brink of the Premier League via a mooted switch to Newcastle United.

A senior debut for his country against the USA came in the midst of all this and, with Euro 2016 beckoning, there was talk of a place in Martin O’Neill’s squad until a Luke Hyam tackle shattered his leg. Hyam played for Ipswich and it happened at Portman Road.

Two operations, 13 months apart, were required before Judge could return to play.

When he did, there was a new face in the manager’s office and a team that had suited his style with its 4-2-3-1 formation had morphed into a 3-4-3 with no room for a No 10.

His two years in recovery were followed by a football life on the bench. So, having banked just four starts for Brentford between August and January, the promise of regular football with Ipswich was impossible to ignore and he has started all 11 games since the move to Suffolk.

What strikes you most about Judge now is the lack of bitterness. There is no bile directed at Brentford — “Things move on. I’m not going to expect a team to wait for me for two years” — and there is sympathy rather than anger for Hyam who has had his own injury torment since.

Judge pointed out that he has actually played more football than the Englishman since the latter earned a red card for that damaging tackle and, while that perspective is inspiring, he doesn’t shy away from the fact there were occasions he struggled.

“There would be times if I didn’t have a great day at training I’d be coming home and I’d just stop off about 200 yards down the road from the house to have 10 minutes to myself because I never wanted to bring that home to the kids.

I didn’t want them to see that I was annoyed or upset because of what happened in training. Luckily, I didn’t have too many of those days, but there were days I did have them.

But his love for the game never wavered and maybe his only lingering regret is the fact that he could never get that half-dozen games or so in a row at Brentford to recapture past form.

O’Neill and Roy Keane were brilliant in maintaining contact through the dark days while Mick McCarthy, who tried to sign him more than once, has seen enough to bring him back into the national fold. Five caps for his country is a paltry return for a man with his abilities but he feels like there’s time to build on that yet.

“I look at Wes (Hoolahan), he didn’t come into the Ireland team until he was a bit later on in his career. I’m only 30. I had two years out, I feel like I’m 28 now, so I feel like I’m in my prime now.

“For me it’s just about enjoying every minute of it. I know I’ve maybe missed my chance to go to the Premiership but it’s about taking every minute you can on the pitch. I always do that when I play.”