 Tuesday, 1st Feb 2011 11:22 Midfielder Jimmy Bullard looks set to make his Town debut at some stage when the Blues face manager Paul Jewell’s former club Derby at Pride Park this evening (KO 7.45pm). Bullard’s fellow transfer window signing Andy Drury is unavailable having completed his move too late to be involved against the Rams. Jewell says he has no doubt what Bullard can bring to his squad: “Noise! Jimmy will give us that enthusiasm. “He’s not played a lot, he’s had a tough time with injuries at Hull. I know him, he’s a quality player, he did great for me at Wigan, he’s a good footballer, he’s very enthusiastic and he’ll give us a little bit extra on top of what we’ve already got. “He’ll be in the squad. We’ve done well in midfield of late, but Jimmy might give something different to the team.” Jewell says he has no concerns about Bullard’s ability to play a full 90 minutes if required despite his lack of games with Hull: “He’s one of those lads who is a bit of a freak of nature as far as fitness is concerned. He can get up in the morning, play golf to about scratch, have a game of football, go training, go fishing afterwards and still have loads of energy. “He’s very full of energy and enthusiasm, so hopefully he can transmit that on to the field. I had a chat with him today about trying to do too much, too quickly but I don’t think you’re going to change Jimmy. “I think he’s raring to go, as we all are because we had a good performance in the second half against Doncaster and got a good result, then went to the Emirates and played exceptionally well defensively. “It’ll be nice to get out there. We didn’t have a game at the weekend, so it’s been a bit of a strange week really.” The new Town boss doesn’t need reminding that his final game as Derby manager was a 1-0 defeat to the Blues at Pride Park in December 2008: “The same result would do on Tuesday! It was a tough time for me, but it’s a great club with great supporters. “It didn’t work out for me at Derby, but I think there are mitigating circumstances in that when I took over in the Premier League we had five points from 14 games.” Jewell doesn’t expect a rousing reception from the Pride Park faithful but has a lot of respect for Rams fans: “I don’t think I’ll get a great welcome, put it that way! “To be fair to the supporters, considering the tough time we had there, I have great sympathy with them. They turned up every week, 35,000 or whatever it was in the Premier League, and we were getting beaten up every week really. They took a lot of stick from people throughout the rest of the country. “I can’t say I did well there, I’m not going hide behind that. I think there were mitigating circumstances for some of it, but it’s a great football club with great supporters and I wish them well, but I’m the Ipswich manager now and delighted to be.” Jewell admits to making errors in his time at Pride Park but feels he has learnt from the experience: “I made a lot of mistakes at Derby, it wasn’t all my fault, but I did make a few mistakes, maybe by trying to change it too early, losing my temper at some of the things that were going on. “I was probably a bit impatient. I’m trying to be a bit more patient, a bit nicer but how long that will last, I don’t know!” The Town manager hopes his new side can take belief from the 3-2 victory over Doncaster: “This Championship is so difficult, so evenly matched. Top can play bottom and you’re never sure of the result. Derby came here and won 2-0 at the start of the season when they were playing with confidence. “Lately, they’ve had a bit of a slip, so we’ve got to try and take our positives out of the Doncaster game and take them into the game at Derby.” Jewell, who has no new injuries, seems unlikely to make too many changes to the defence which helped beat Doncaster and held out for an hour against Arsenal at the Emirates. Márton Fülöp will be in goal with Darren O’Dea at left-back, Carlos Edwards on the right and Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney in the centre. In midfield, Jewell will have to decide whether to start new signing Bullard and recall Lee Martin, who was cup-tied for the Arsenal game. Bullard may be left on the bench given his lack of recent games with Martin probably returning in place of Mark Kennedy and taking one of the wide roles. The Blues could start with a five-man midfield with skipper David Norris, Grant Leadbitter and Colin Healy in the centre and Connor Wickham in the other wide position, swapping flanks with Martin from time to time as he did against Doncaster. Alternatively, Bullard could take one of the central roles with Healy perhaps the most likely to drop out. Wickham’s inclusion on the left allows Town to switch to a front two with the England U21 international joining Tamás Priskin up front if required. Only Brian Murphy (ankle), who Jewell looked to take from Bohemians to Derby when he was manager at Pride Park, and Alan Quinn (groin) are currently on the Town sidelines. Derby will be without defender Dean Leacock, who is suspended, and Jake Buxton will also be missing from the backline with a groin strain. Full-back Dean Moxey joined Crystal Palace yesterday and Kris Commons moved to Celtic last week, while an attempt to sign Liverpool’s Daniel Ayala on loan has been put on hold until the centre-half is over a hamstring injury. Another defender, Russell Anderson (hamstring), and midfielder Ryan Connolly (cruciate ligament) are out with longer term injuries. The Rams have slipped from fourth to 15th, four places and three points ahead of the Blues, after a run of seven losses in nine matches and manager Nigel Clough says it’s vital his side get back to winning ways sooner rather than later: "We've had a bad couple of months, now let's finish the season as we were playing a few months ago. "We have said this before but form doesn't just click back into place. I think one good performance would change the feeling around the place and lift the players' confidence, especially with two of our next three games coming up at home. "It is absolutely imperative we start winning again, starting against Ipswich. Without wanting to pile too much pressure on, this is as big a game as we have had for some time in terms of a league game." Clough says the match between the sides at Portman Road was a tight one until Kris Commons netted the first of his two goals which sealed the win: "It was one of those games where there was nothing in it for a while and then we got a goal. "We feel the first goal is absolutely vital for us at the moment, vital for confidence. If we can get that first goal, I think you will see confidence levels go up." Historically, Town have had the better of Derby, winning 29 games (27 in the league), drawing 18 (16) and losing 23 (22). Two second half goals from new Bhoy Commons saw Derby County to a 2-0 victory over the Blues in November, their first win at Portman Road in seven years. Town had been the stronger side for much of the first half but gradually lost their way with the visitors taking control and securing the win via Commons’s goals. In April, goals from Gareth McAuley, Carlos Edwards and Connor Wickham took the Blues to a 3-1 victory in the most recent game between the sides at Pride Park. McAuley put Town in front in the third minute, Edwards added the second on 80, two minutes before Rob Hulse pulled one back for the home side. Rams midfielder Stephen Pearson was shown a straight red card for foul and abusive language late on, before Wickham sealed the result in injury time. The Blues also won on their previous visit to Derby, a Jon Walters goal seeing them to a 1-0 win in December 2008, the result which led to Paul Jewell resigning as Rams manager. Derby keeper Stephen Bywater was at Portman Road on loan in 2007/08, while frontman Kevin Lisbie, who is with Millwall for the season, was on loan at Pride Park in 2006. Jewell was boss at Derby between November 2007 and December 2008 while Chris Hutchings was his assistant at Pride Park and was briefly caretaker-manager after Jewell’s resignation before Nigel Clough was appointed. Tuesday’s referee is Carl Boyeson from East Yorkshire, who has shown 41 yellow and two red cards in 17 games so far this season. Boyeson’s last Town match was the 2-2 draw at Newcastle on the second last weekend of last season in which he booked only Davids Norris and Wright. Probable squad: Fülöp, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, O’Dea, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, Norris, Leadbitter, Bullard, Healy, Kennedy, Martin, Peters, O’Connor, Wickham, Priskin, Scotland. Photo: ITFC
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