Connor Wickham looks set to become Town's youngest ever first team player on Saturday when the Blues face Doncaster Rovers at Portman Road. Wickham will be amongst the substitutes as the Bluesn go into their final five games of the season with the play-offs looking all but an impossibility.

The Colchester-based academy schoolboy will be 16 years and 11 days old on Saturday, while current record holder Jason Dozzell was 16 years and 57 days old when he made his Town bow and scored against Coventry City at Portman Road on 4th February 1984. Dozzell is still the youngest player to have scored in a top flight match.

Boss Jim Magilton outlined why he feels Connor Wickham is ready for first team football at such a young age: "He has no fear, he has stature, confidence and two good feet. He's come into the first team squad and hasn't been overawed. He's taken to it like a duck to water.

"He's been very good, but we can't forget that he's only a young boy, although he doesn't look it.”

The Town manager says another young striker would also have been given his chance had he not suffered a season-ending metatarsal injury, but says that other academy products in recent times haven't reached the required standard: "Jordan Rhodes has been unfortunate to have picked up an injury while he was out on loan otherwise he would have been playing games for us at the end of the season. His injury has catapulted Connor into the frame.

"If they are good enough, they will be pushed through and will be on the bench or in my team. So obviously, the ones who have gone before, haven't been.”

Town will probably be without skipper Gareth McAuley, right-back Moritz Volz and striker Jon Stead, all of whom are considered more likely to be involved on Monday when the Blues travel to Bristol City.

McAuley is still not over the hamstring injury which he picked up with Northern Ireland and which saw him miss last week's game at Sheffield United. Volz aggravated his groin injury at Bramall Lane, although he has subsequently trained, while Stead strained his back on Monday and has missed training throughout the rest of the week.

Better news is that David Wright is over his hamstring problem, Jon Walters has had an excellent week's training after recovering from his ruptured ankle ligament injury and Giovani Dos Santos is back training after his abductor strain.

Wright looks set to come back into the side at right-back with Ben Thatcher on the left and Pim Balkestein and Iván Campo in the centre of the defence in McAuley's absence. Richard Wright will continue in goal with Bartosz Bialkowski's midweek red card for the reserves not preventing him from taking a place on the bench.

Dos Santos is likely to come into the side in one of the wide midfield positions with Magilton having plenty of options elsewhere in his engine room. Walters could return in the other wide role, but seems likely to be required up front on Stead's absence, probably alongside Pablo Couñago.

Alan Quinn looks likely to fill the other wide midfield role, probably starting on the left and swapping flanks with Dos Santos at some stage.

Town seem unlikely to continue with the central midfield pairing of Owen Garvan and Veliche Shumulikoski after last week's disappointing performance at Sheffield United. Magilton may choose to field the Irish U21 international alongside either David Norris or Tommy Miller.

The Blues boss says winning Saturday's game and then Town's next four matches is his main concern in the weeks to come: "We've got five games to go, three at home, two away. I am as focused on getting results as I was ahead of the first game of the season. It was no more important then as it is now.

"I've said a million times since I've been in this job that the most important game is the next one. I haven't gone away from that and it's true.

”We had a two-week break, we went to Sheffield United and we didn't play particularly well. We'll accept that, take it on the chin and dust ourselves down.

"Now we've got a home game on Saturday against Doncaster. It's going to be difficult, like all games are. They're a good footballing side and they're going to get people behind the ball. It's up to us. The game hasn't changed.”

Rovers, currently 16th in the table five places and five points behind Town, will have midfielder Richie Wellens available again after he suffered a dead leg during last week's 2-1 home defeat to Watford.

Full-back James O'Connor is out for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery, while midfielders Brian Stock (back), James Coppinger (ankle) and Stuart Elliott (ankle), defender Sean McDaid (knee) and strikers Tomi Ameobi (calf) and Steve Brooker (ankle) are all unavailable.

Rovers have lost their last four matches, but assistant manager Richard O'Kelly says there's been no drop in morale: "We had a spell when we lost quite a few on the trot in the first half of the season and the spirits remained high. We've lost the last four but nothing has changed.

"I think everyone realises that we need to get a few more points on the board and in the last couple of days they've certainly shown that in training. We've had a very competitive training session today.

"We are still not safe even though we are seven points clear of the relegation zone with five games left.

"You like as much help as you can in respect of other results, but you can't count on it so we have to make sure ourselves. As I've said before, I think four points would do it."

The Blues have only rarely met Rovers in the league, winning twice, drawing twice and losing once in the clubs' only five games.

Earlier this season, a Shelton Martis header gave Rovers a 1-0 victory at the Keepmoat Stadium, their first ever league win over the Blues. The teams also played a Carling Cup second round tie at Belle Vue in 2004/05 which the home side also won 2-0 via goals from Richard Ravenhill and Jermaine McSporran.

The teams' league clashes prior to this year came in 1954/55 and 1956/57 with both games at Doncaster's old Belle Vue ground ending in 1-1 draws. At Portman Road, the first match ended with the Blues running out 5-1 victors and the second with Town winning 2-0, which means Rovers have never won on Suffolk soil.

No current Town player has ever played for Doncaster and no member of the Rovers squad has ever appeared for the Blues.

Saturday's referee is Keith Stroud from Hampshire, whose last Town match was the 1-0 win at Derby earlier in the season in which he sent off Rams' defender Jordan Stewart. Stroud has shown 99 yellow and six red cards in 28 games so far this season.

Likely squad: R Wright, Bialkowski, D Wright, Thatcher, Peters, Campo, Balkestein, Bruce, Garvan, Norris, Miller, Shumulikoski, Quinn, Dos Santos, Haynes, Walters, Couñago, Lisbie, Wickham.

Photo: Action Images

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