THERE'S something about 20,000 people screaming at the top of their collective voice when a goal goes in.

Until you hear it again you forget quite how much it’s been missed. And when it’s a last-gasp equaliser scored by a local boy on his debut, as was the case with Macauley Bonne’s leveller in Ipswich’s 2-2 home draw with Morecambe on Saturday, it’s that bit louder, that bit more joyous.

Last season’s supporter-less football was a pale imitation of the real thing with the sounds and atmosphere we’d previously taken for granted absent.

Like a dress rehearsal, or perhaps a sequel to a much-loved film missing one of the lead actors from the original. At football, fans aren’t just passive observers, they’re part of the show, members of the cast.

Even if they didn’t have an opening day win to celebrate, Bonne’s 91st-minute goal, scored with his only touch of the afternoon, sent the returning Portman Road faithful home happy enough.

Inevitably, there had been positives and negatives in Town’s display. The biggest negatives were, of course, the goals conceded which were more in keeping with Sunday morning football from a defensive perspective.

But there were plenty of glimpses of the team which will hopefully develop over the course of the season.

Lee Evans’s spraying of the ball to the flanks, Rekeem Harper’s clever feet and passing, the neatly-worked first goal created by Conor Chaplin and scored by Scott Fraser among them.

And to come back from a goal down twice showed character. Would last season’s team have drawn that game? Almost certainly not.

Tuesday saw Cook fall to his first home defeat as Town manager as Newport County smash-and-grabbed their way to a 1-0 Carabao Cup win against a much-changed Town side.

But again there were pluses, not least the Blues hitting 25 shots. In periods last season it would taken a couple of months to manage as many as that. Obviously, failing to take any them was the evening’s big disappointment.

Overall, the two games confirmed that Town, who travel to Burton Albion tomorrow, are exactly where they were expected to be at this point.

‘Work in progress’ continues to be the mantra as more new signings come in, 14 so far with probably another three on the way.

It may take a little time but there have already been signs that there could be plenty for the returning 20,000 to cheer in the months to come.