 Tuesday, 16th Mar 2010 08:55 Central defender Damien Delaney will keep his place in the Town side when the Blues take on Watford at Vicarage Road after Saturday's red card was rescinded. Town welcome back midfielder Grant Leadbitter after his two-game ban, while Daryl Murphy is a doubt after suffering double vision during the 1-0 victory over Scunthorpe at the weekend. Town’s main injury concern is striker Daryl Murphy, who has was replaced just after half-time against Scunthorpe. Speaking at Monday morning’s pre-match press conference, Keane said no risks would be taken with the on-loan frontman: “We’ll know more later today. He obviously didn’t train on Sunday, the players only did a recovery session. “A lot of these decisions I leave with the medical staff and the club doctor. If there’s any doubt he won’t travel with us as we can’t take any risks with the players’ health as we’ve got a lot of games coming up. “He wasn’t well at half-time and we shouldn’t have put him out for the second half. He got a knock, he didn’t look well and he had a bit of blurred vision, which is why we took him off.” The Blues boss says Connor Wickham could come into his thoughts for a starting role if Murphy fails to make it: “Connor, like the other strikers at the club, is fighting for a starting place. Murphy’s come in and grabbed that opportunity with five goals, Connor’s got his first goal. He has been making more of an impact coming off the bench, but he’ll probably say that I haven’t really started him. “We’ll gauge the players in training [on Monday]. I’ll have a look at their body today morning or maybe even tomorrow morning.” Keane was delighted to see Wickham open his league goals account: “We’ve said for the last few months Connor’s been getting very, very close and it’s something he can now put to the back of his mind. He can go on to have a very good career and it will prove to be the first of many. “No doubt his family were pleased and we’re all pleased for him because he’s quite popular with the other players, he’s a good lad, he works hard and he’s got a chance of being a top player. “But there are pitfalls ahead for him and we’ve got to make sure we try and guide him in the right direction. And that will come down to his team-mates, the staff, myself and just as importantly his family.” Keane says that for all Wickham’s promise, like any youngster there’s plenty for him to work on: “His left foot, his heading, his hold-up play, his movement, his awareness of what’s around him, but that’s only natural for a 16-year-old. “I suppose his biggest strength is his strength. He’s a strong boy in the gym and if anything he’ll probably have to ease off on that side of it because you can get too bulky, you can get too big and as a striker he needs that mobility more than any other player on the pitch.” In terms of finishing, Keane says David Healy is the best at the club and feels the Northern Ireland international is getting closer to full match fitness: “We did a finishing exercise yesterday and David Healy is still the best finisher at the club at this moment in time, although there’s more to a game of football than finishing. “David’s getting sharper, even the other day he had half a chance and he’ll be disappointed with that one, so we’re pleased with him.” The Town manager has also been impressed with full-backs David Wright and Shane O’Connor in recent games: “Wrighty and Shane have done really well. They both played at Sheffield Wednesday, they played against Scunthorpe and against Cardiff. Sometimes when you look back there are certain players who are in your teams which keep winning and Wrighty and Shane are like that at the moment, David Norris as well.” Keane says O’Connor’s emergence as a first team player has helped the side’s balance: “With our left-footed left-back and with Jack on the left and Garvs we do have a better balance to our team. “We’ve been unfortunate with one or two injuries and Damien might [have been] suspended, but we can bring in Pim or Tommy Smith and they’re both left-footed, so the balance is looking better. Unfortunately it’s taken us five or six months to get there.” Keeper Brian Murphy — who claimed an assist on Saturday with one of his very long kicks - has also established himself in the team in recent weeks, keeping four clean sheets in his first six games for Town and only conceding two goals. Keane, who has been pleased to add another more vocal player to what he concedes is a side containing a number of quieter individuals, says the 26-year-old’s success hasn’t come as too much of a surprise to him: “Murphy’s done well, he was with the Irish squad last week, and he’s making progress. “But he’s no kid, he’s a good age, he’s got good experience, he’s been in England before and he’s played at a decent level in Ireland, despite what people might think. You look at his record of clean sheets for Bohemians and it’s unbelievable, so it’s no fluke.” In midfield, the Blues can call on Grant Leadbitter after his two-match ban, but the Town manager says the former Sunderland man’s recall shouldn’t be taken as a fait accompli: “Grant will be training with the first team lads and he’ll be keen to get back involved, but we’ve won two games without him, so perhaps we don’t need him!” Keane says he was happier to beat Scunthorpe than he was Cardiff earlier in the week: “I was more satisfied with the win on Saturday than the one on Tuesday because of the type of game it was. It was very difficult with the way they were set up, we didn’t play particularly well, but we kept going. “Connor got his first league goal and it’s satisfying when you win football matches. They’re the type of matches you have to win. It can’t always be pretty like it was on Tuesday night against Cardiff. “I think we’ve sometimes been guilty of overplaying and sometimes trying to look too pretty. We’ve got to grind out results and we did that over the weekend. Now we’ve got to crack on and see where that takes us.” Watford have lost their last four games and are without a win in five, but Keane says that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good time to play them: “They need results and I always think the games playing against the teams around you are the hardest, as I said before Scunthorpe on Saturday. “They’re tough games, everyone’s fighting for their lives. Watford had a brilliant start, but every team will have a difficult spell and they’re finding that now. “But we have to look after ourselves, try and get the right starting XI. If I freshen it up, I’ll have to freshen up the right areas and have a right go at them. Our form generally speaking hasn’t been too bad. “Watford nicked a draw here when the game should have been dead and buried and it will be a tough game.” Keane says he is taking each match as it comes: “Even as a player I just thought about the next game and trying to win it. If you win football matches the table will take care of itself, I don’t get bogged down by that. I can be easily confused, so I like to keep it simple! “Two victories is nothing to get too excited about. But some teams go on a run of games and why couldn’t it be us? It would be a decent time to have a decent run. “But we’ve thought that before. We had a couple of good home games against QPR and Blackpool and we looked as if we were on a run and then we hit a brick wall. “We look at the group of players we have and we still think we can have a good end of season. In terms of the run-in I think we’ve got some hard games coming up. I know we’re playing teams around us at home but as we saw against Scunthorpe they can prove the most difficult. “And we’ve still got to go to Swansea, Forest and Newcastle. Tough games, but I think they’re all tough.” The Blues boss is quick to play down suggestions of a late play-off charge, despite Town being only eight points from the top six: “We’ve had back-to-back wins. Everyone needs to calm down a bit. Let’s try and win tomorrow night and see where that takes us. It’s a tough game away from home against a side fighting for their lives.” Keane seems unlikely to make too many changes to his side unless they are enforced. His backline will probably be unchanged with Shane O’Connor and David Wright as the full-backs and Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney at centre-half. The recalled Tommy Smith and Pim Balkestein will vie for a role on the bench. Brian Murphy will be in goal with Arran Lee-Barrett being preferred on the bench despite Richard Wright now being fit after his knee ligament injury. The midfield may also be unchanged, although the Town manager might consider swapping Owen Garvan for Grant Leadbitter or alternatively resting David Norris with the matches coming thick and fast at the present time. David Healy could return to the starting line-up instead of Pablo Couñago, while Connor Wickham will deputise for Daryl Murphy if the Irishman is ruled out. Watford dropped to 19th, five points behind the Blues after Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Peterborough and have a home record of won seven, drawn four and lost six. The Hornets have no new injury concerns but manager Malky Mackay, a former Canary, may make one or two changes as he looks to turn his side’s fortunes around. Winger Will Buckley may be handed his debut having joined from Rochdale in January. After such a poor recent run, Mackay is expecting a nervy evening but hopes a goal will settle the mood down: "I think it's only natural that nerves will start to play a part for both the team and supporters. "But, a goal changes all that as does a result. When you are disappointed and frustrated you want to get back into it straight away. "On Saturday I thought we huffed and puffed and didn't manage to obviously score. We had a lot of pressure, conceded a freak goal and they defended doggedly." The one-time central defender says the Blues are an improving side: "After a few early results didn't go their way they've had a lot of results recently and a lot of draws. "Roy has added to his squad in January, so there is some experience in his team and we have to be very careful because it's going to be a tough game." Town haven’t beaten Watford in 10 games home and away since March 2004 when a Dean Bowditch hat-trick and a rarity from Jermaine Wright condemned the Hornets to a 4-1 defeat at Portman Road. At Vicarage Road, Town’s last win came earlier that season when the Blues ran out 2-1 victors with Shefki Kuqi netting on his debut and Jim Magilton chipping in a late winner after Scott Fitzgerald had put the home side in front. Despite this recent poor record, the Blues have still had the better of Watford historically, winning 24 times (21 in the league), losing 19 (18) and drawing 16 (16). Earlier in the season, Watford sub Nathan Ellington netted a late equaliser to stretch the Blues’ winless run to 13 games. The Blues had gone ahead through Gareth McAuley early on and should have been well in front before again conceding at the last. Last year, the Blues lost 2-1 at Vicarage Road despite Pablo Couñago putting them in front in the second minute. John Eustace and John-Joe O’Toole scored the Watford goals. At Portman Road in March, the sides played out a 0-0 draw. Tamás Priskin, currently on loan at QPR, joined the Blues from Watford for £1.7 million in the summer and is the only ex-Watford player in Town ranks, while Hornets keeper Scott Loach was an academy schoolboy at Playford Road. Watford goalkeeper-coach Alec Chamberlain was also a youth player with the Blues but never made a first team appearance for Town, unlike Hornets first team coach David Kerslake, who made three starts and six sub appearances for George Burley’s side in the 1997/98 season. Tuesday’s referee is Graham Salisbury from Lancashire, who has shown 60 yellow and four red cards in 28 games so far this season. Salisbury’s most recent Town match was the 0-0 draw with Wolves a year ago last week in which he booked David Norris, David Wright, Alan Quinn, Ben Thatcher and one Wolves player. Squad from: B Murphy, Lee-Barrett, R Wright, D Wright, O’Connor, Rosenior, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, Balkestein, Norris, Leadbitter, Garvan, Colback, Walters, Edwards, Peters, Quinn, Martin, D Murphy, Healy, Couñago, Wickham.
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