 Friday, 5th Mar 2010 13:21 Boss Roy Keane will assess the fitness of defensive trio Damien Delaney, Gareth McAuley and David Wright in training today before deciding on his side for Saturday’s game at Blackpool. The Town manager will also look at how David Healy and Owen Garvan came through their midweek international matches. Central defensive linchpins Delaney and McAuley have been suffering with groin problems, the latter missing Northern Ireland’s friendly in Albania, while Wright has had ankle and shoulder problems in recent weeks. Keane says he will take a look at them this morning before deciding on his line-up: “Gareth and Damien were struggling and David Wright missed out last week, but they’re hopefully training this morning and we’ll decide on the final team today. “The week’s rest has obviously done them good, but at this stage of the season you’d expect a lot of the players to be carrying knocks anyway. “It was more of a precaution than anything for Gareth to miss the Northern Ireland game. He’s played a lot of games and we’ve got a lot coming up and it was a long trip to Albania and hopefully he’ll be fit for tomorrow.” Keane had seen neither David Healy, who did play for Northern Ireland in Albania, nor Owen Garvan, who was in the Republic of Ireland U21 side which lost to Armenia, before his pre-match press conference, but there were no reports of any injuries after their international games. Town have a run of seven games in 22 days and the Blues boss says it will be important to not to pick up too many injuries: “It’s a busy time coming up not just for us but for every club. Hopefully we can deal with it and avoid any serious injuries. “We’ve got decent numbers and we still have the options of bringing one or two players in. But I’m pleased with the players, their attitude, their fitness levels and we’ve got lads to call on [who haven’t been involved lately, like] Quinner and Lee Martin, who had a run out in the reserves this week.” That busy run is likely to see regular changes to the Town line-up with Keane assessing who to include and leave out based on their displays in matches and at Playford Road: “We look at how lads are performing and training, how they are recovering from games. “We look at the position, we don’t want too many changes, particularly with the back four, we did that earlier in the season. “It depends, sometimes you go with your gut feeling. We’ll watch training this morning and we’ll finalise one or two positions.” It’s likely that the Town boss will stick with much of the team which did so well in the second half against Bristol City without managing to beat Robins keeper Dean Gerken. Brian Murphy will continue in goal with Liam Rosenior most likely to fill the right-back role with Jack Colback or Shane O’Connor on the left. Damien Delaney and Gareth McAuley will probably be fit, with Pim Balkestein standing by to deputise should one of them fail to make it, while Troy Brown could come into the squad as cover. In midfield, Grant Leadbitter will be looking to avoid his tenth yellow card of the season and a two-match ban alongside David Norris in the centre, with Carlos Edwards finding some form on the right. Keane could switch Jack Colback to left midfield and recall Shane O’Connor to left-back, although the former Liverpool youngster may also be considered for the left midfield role himself, but with Owen Garvan a more likely alternative option. With David Healy having had a long trip back from Albania, the Blues boss could decide to rest the Northern Irishman and move Jon Walters back into the attack alongside Daryl Murphy with Pablo Couñago and Connor Wickham coming off the bench in the second half. Keane is still looking for his side to produce more victories: “We’ve got a lot of tough games coming up, the likes of Blackpool and Cardiff, but we’re looking a bit more solid at the back and that gives you a bit more chance. “As much as we’re disappointed with the lack of wins, three defeats in 20-odd games isn’t too bad.” The Town manager is still perplexed that his side has recorded so many draws, 17 so far, one behind the club’s record total of 18 (1990/91) and six behind the Football League’s top total of 23, having already set a new club record for home draws of 10. Keane said: “It’s been amazing, I’ve known nothing like it. It’s not as if we play negative stuff or play with five midfielders, we do have a go. I think we’ve had more shots than anyone in the Championship. “Last weekend I thought we were outstanding, I think we had 20-odd shots on goal but obviously our ratio isn’t great in terms of turning shots into goals. That needs to be improved upon and hopefully that will improve over the last couple of months.” Blackpool currently sit in eighth position in the Championship, nine points and eight places above the Blues and Keane says Town’s two victories over the Tangerines earlier in the season will have little bearing on this weekend’s match: “The game here could have gone either way, they missed a few chances. “In the cup game up there they ended up with nine men and we were hanging on at the end. It’s a new challenge to us, a new game and whatever’s happened to us in the previous games means very little. “They’re having a great season, they’ve got some very good players and they seem to have gelled very, very quickly. “We’re in for a tough game, particularly after dropping two points last weekend, but as I say every week, we’re looking forward to it.” The Town manager is an admirer of Blackpool boss Ian Holloway: “I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to us coming to town. Ian’s done a brilliant job there. He’s a good manager and he’s got good experience and I look forward to pitting my wits against him and having a drink with him afterwards, as I always do.” Holloway is faced with a minor injury crisis ahead of the game with defenders Ian Evatt (ankle and knee ligaments) and Stephen Crainey (knee) and striker Gary Taylor-Fletcher (groin) all out and midfielder Hameur Bouazza (groin) rated at 50/50. Defender Rob Edwards is back from suspension. The manager former Plymouth boss says he will be looking at adding to his squad to cover for the injuries, but probably not in time for Saturday: "It's far from ideal but injuries are an occupational hazard and you can't do anything about them. "I will be looking at the loan market, though it can't be anyone from Scotland or abroad at this stage of the season. The problem is getting someone of a good enough standard. I've made a couple of calls, but barring another manager having a complete breakdown and letting me take one of his first team, I can't see it happening. "So I strongly think that the back four will be lads already here. They know how we play. "We've got Neal Eardley, Alex Baptiste, Rob Edwards, Andy Butler and Joe Martin available. I'll work with them today and we'll see how it goes." Striker Daniel Nardiello has gone on loan to Oldham until the end of the season, while former Blue Billy Clarke could be involved after overcoming a knee injury which has kept him out of the first team since December. Holloway is a big fan of Town boss Roy Keane: "Throughout my own playing career he was one of the best players. "He always sticks to his principles and what he believes in. He has this effect on certain people that I wish I had. "I think he's a very private man and he's managed to do that exceptionally well. I think he'll be a success, although hopefully not this Saturday. "Where they are at the moment they'd probably have expected to be in our position, so that's what I'm proud of. "I'm sure Roy would swap that but what I want to try and get as many points as we can to try and get as high up the table, but they're in our way." Former Blues striker Billy Clarke joined Blackpool on a free transfer from Town in the summer and is the only current member of either squad to have played for the opposition. Historically, Town have won eight games between the sides (seven in the league), seven have been drawn (seven) and Blackpool have won two (one). In January, goals from Jack Colback and Owen Garvan gave the Blues a 2-1 victory in the FA Cup against a Blackpool side which was reduced to nine men before the end with Ian Evatt and Rob Edwards red-carded for professional fouls. Brett Ormerod scored for the Tangerines. The most recent league game between the sides was in December when Town won 3-1 at Portman Road with Jon Stead, Jack Colback and Gareth McAuley scoring for the Blues and Ian Evatt netting for the Tangerines. Last season’s league match at Bloomfield Road was won 1-0 by Town, David Norris scoring the goal that led to his controversial celebration. Saturday’s referee is Kevin Wright form Cambridgeshire, who has shown 69 yellow and six red cards in 23 games so far this season. Wright’s most recent Town match was the 1-1 home draw with Swansea in October in which he booked Swans’ defender Angel Rangel. Squad from: B Murphy, Lee-Barrett, Rosenior, D Wright, O’Connor, Delaney, McAuley, Balkestein, Brown, Leadbitter, Norris, Walters, Edwards, Colback, Garvan, Quinn, Martin, Peters, Healy, D Murphy, Couñago, Wickham.
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