‘I always liked the ball. You have to do extra sometimes’

Ipswich keeper Vaclav Hladky explains why heissucha creative influence on side's great start to the season

- Nick Ames

Vaclav Hladky recognises the direction of the V conversation and smiles. He is being taken back to Ipswich's win over Hull this month and his contribution to an extraordinary goal. Leaving two onrushing opponents for dead with a turn and pass deep inside his own six-yard box, he opened up a new angle of attack and watched Conor Chaplin finish off a thrilling move 16 seconds later. The sequence went viral and the goalkeeper's influence was lost on few. "It was pure instinct," he says, choosing his words modestly.

"It's on me to pick the right option, and sometimes you have to do something a bit extra." Everything is coming off for Ipswich, who have won nine of 11 games in the Championship by playing some of the best football in the country. The same can be said of Hladky, who has faced down ferocious presses and, time after time, opened teams up from the back. He played only seven minutes of league football during Ipswich's promotion from League One last season but now, a month shy of his 33rd birthday, the Premier League future that had long seemed distant does not appear so far away now.

"There were some months, some periods, where you're thinking 'I'm so far away'," Hladky says. "You'll always have ups and downs in your career, that's natural. But if you keep working and believing, and following your dreams, anything is possible. I wouldn't see 32 as too late for anything. It's a great age for a keeper and I've still got plenty ahead."

The prospects seem limitless at Portman Road under Kieran McKenna, who has turned two decades of failure on their head to create a vibrant Ipswich team that play to packed, bouncing houses. He recalled Hladky on the eve of the season after Christian Walton, impossible to dislodge during the team's ascent, sustained a foot injury. It was the opportunity the Czech had craved and, on a frantic opening day at the Stadium of Light, his brilliant late save ensured they began with victory.