Ipswich striker Freddie Sears has a personal stake in ending Norwich City's promotion quest, if the East Anglian rivals meet each other in the Championship play-offs.

Sears took his tally to nine goals in 20 games since his January switch from Colchester with a late winner in the 2-1 home win over Nottingham Forest which moved Mick McCarthy's men into fifth position, one place behind the Canaries.

Town need a point in their final league game at Blackburn this weekend to guarantee a play-off spot and Sears insisted meeting the Canaries would hold no fears, despite Norwich easing to a Championship double to maintain their recent derby dominance.

'I have just moved house and my next door neighbour is a Norwich fan so there has been a bit of banter between us,' said the 25-year-old.'I played in the derby game up there and I know how much it means to people here. I have played in West Ham/Millwall derby games, which are pretty intense, but I know how big Ipswich/Norwich is.

'It would be great for both teams if we met in the play-offs, so I would look forward to that. It would be nice to shut my neighbour up! He has had the bragging rights for a while, so I would love to get one over on them.

'He has wished us well, and I wish them well, but we need to get into the play-offs first.'

Sears, speaking to the East Anglian Daily Times, is enjoying his prolific strike partnership with Daryl Murphy.

'Me and Murph have clicked straight away. I realised from our first game together we have a good understanding and it has come on leaps and bounds since then,' he said. 'I'm loving it here. Playing in front of 25,000 people is what I have wanted for a couple of years.

'No disrespect to Colchester, who are playing in front of four to five thousand, but this is what I was made for and I'm loving it. I'm totally buzzing and enjoying my football.

'I love the fans here, they are great and it really means a lot to me that they have taken to me. There are four teams (Derby, Ipswich, Wolves and Brentford) fighting for those last two play-off places still. We have one foot in them but we need to get both in there. It will be tough at Blackburn but we need to go there looking to win.

'If we just go there for a draw anything could happen. Our best form of defence is attack.'