HUDDERSFIELD Town fans, don't worry too much about Jordan Rhodes and Jermaine Beckford – this chap James Vaughan can play a bit as well!

The 24-year-old loan striker from Norwich proved he can be more than a handful for Championship defences and, while he missed a late penalty which could have given Town victory, he produced plenty to be proud of in a thrilling clash at Portman Road.

Manager Simon Grayson gave him the back-up of playing 4-4-2, just as he’d done with Rhodes alongside him on debut against Burnley, and he thrived in the pace and openness of a thoroughly entertaining game.

Vaughan provided an outlet for frontline partner Lee Novak and the bristling midfield, in which Keith Southern’s graft allied to Oliver Norwood’s vision allowed Adam Clayton to express himself with freedom.

Some of Town’s flowing attacks were a credit and Ipswich were clearly wary of Vaughan’s raw power and the silky set-up skills of Danny Ward, who gave the sort of bright, inventive, hard-working performance we’d all like to see more consistently.

It was no surprise, after Norwood caused problems with Town’s first corner of the match of 35 minutes, that Ward should have one of the follow-up shots before Clayton lashed home a sweet low left-foot shot to register his first goal for the club.

He looks a snip at £400,000 and could flourish under the boss who nurtured him at Leeds.

Peter Clarke and in-form Joel Lynch – who will be gutted he has an Achilles injury which seems certain to keep him out of Wales’ World Cup qualifiers – again looked comfortable alongside each other at the back, but Grayson knows Town still have work to do to become tighter.

Click below for a gallery from Saturday's game

Defensively, Town were too open throughout the team and, particularly at set-pieces, they look very vulnerable at times.

That was illustrated when Daryl Murphy pulled away unmarked at the back post to nod back an Andy Drury free-kick to set up Luke Chambers for the Ipswich equaliser on 62 minutes.

It was Chambers’ first goal for the club and his first in 17 months, and it rocked Town. In fact, they hadn’t regained composure, or kept hold of the ball hardly at all, by the time Drury’s long through ball released Chopra for an excellent finish 10 minutes later.

Whether he was offside or not, Town needed to collect themselves and, to their credit, that’s exactly what they did.

Not without a scare or too, though.