 Friday, 1st Apr 2011 14:29 Town boss Paul Jewell was hoping the Blues’ legion of international players would return to Portman Road unscathed when he spoke the press ahead of Saturday’s game at Burnley. Loan midfielder Kieron Dyer could return to the side after missing the Scunthorpe game with a thigh problem, while Lee Martin begins a two-match ban. Jewell said: “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the players who are away come back not too tired and not injured. "It’s nice to have a week off to a certain extent but it’s a horrible time when you start worrying about them coming back and they aren’t back until Thursday.” Of those usually in and around the 18, keeper Márton Fülöp (Hungary), Darren O’Dea, Damien Delaney (both Republic of Ireland), Gareth McAuley (Northern Ireland), Jaime Peters (Canada), Shane O’Connor (Republic of Ireland U21s) and Troy Brown (Wales U21s) have all been away this week. Dyer has spent much of the week training with Town’s physios and could make the second start of his spell from West Ham. The midfielder no longer has any worries about being called back home with his partner Josie now having given birth to a son. The Blues boss gave Northern Irish U21 international Josh Carson his debut in the Scunthorpe match and says he may introduce one or two other youngsters in the final weeks of the campaign: “Possibly, but by the same token we want to finish the season with as many points as possible and as high as possible. But there may be one or two who get their opportunity between now and the end of the season. “We’ve got a lot of tough games coming up and we owe it to everybody else in the league to get results, and to ourselves more than anybody." Jewell is expecting a typically competitive Championship match: “It will be a tough game at Burnley. They got beaten 3-0 at home against Millwall in their last home game - it’s a crazy league this, isn’t it? “We beat Scunthorpe, they beat Notts Forest and Swansea. Every game, whether it’s top, middle or bottom, is tough. There are no easy games in this league, it’s a cliché but it’s true.” With Fülöp having been away with Hungary, the Town manager will probably stick with Arran Lee-Barrett in goal with Carlos Edwards and Mark Kennedy the full-backs. Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney will continue at the centre of the defence unless either of them picked up a knock while away with their national sides. Jimmy Bullard, Grant Leadbitter and skipper David Norris are likely to continue as the central midfield three with Dyer perhaps replacing Martin in his usual wide right role, with Carson on the other flank and Wickham up front. Alternatively, Jewell may recall Jason Scotland for the lone striking role, switching Wickham to one of the wide positions. If the Blues boss is looking to introduce fringe players from the bench, midfielder Conor Hourihane could be in with a chance of making his debut, while Luke Hyam and Tom Eastman will be hoping for their first involvement of the Jewell era. Keeper Brian Murphy is likely to need more reserve games before returning to the first team, while midfielder Alan Quinn is still to feature this season due to the groin injury he suffered in pre-season. Tamás Priskin has joined Swansea on loan and Reggie Lambe is now at Bristol Rovers, while Tommy Smith is with Colchester, Ronan Murray at Torquay and Ian McLoughlin at Stockport. The Clarets are without loan midfielder Jack Cork, who is back at Chelsea having been taken ill while away with the England U21s. Strikers Charlie Austin (shoulder), Steven Thompson (groin) and Martin Paterson (thigh), as well as midfielder Chris McCann (knee), are sidelined. Burnley boss Eddie Howe says his side, who are currently in eighth, seven places and eight points above the Blues, have a tricky final few weeks of the season: “On paper it’s a tough run-in but you can never look too much into that. The last few results tell you that. “In this league it’s difficult week in, week out. We hope to raise our game against the top sides. We’re going to need to. “But it’s in our hands with all those teams to play. Anything could happen between now and the end of the season. We’ve got to make sure we start it well, starting Saturday. It really is a big game for us. “We want to get the crowd with us from the first minute, I think it’s going to be so important that we create an atmosphere that’s uncomfortable for Ipswich.” No current Town player has been a Claret, although new scout David Hamilton was at Turf Moor in the early nineties. No member of Eddie Howe’s squad has ever featured for the Blues, although Town's Jaime Peters and Burnley's David Edgar are close friends having played at various levels with Canada together. In January the Clarets fought off competition from the Blues to sign striker Charlie Austin, who is out for the rest of the season, and subsequently loaned Nathan Delfouneso, a player who was also interesting Town, from Aston Villa. On the second weekend of this season at Portman Road, Clarke Carlisle netted an injury time equaliser for 10-man Burnley as the Blues began their home campaign with a 1-1 draw. Town looked to have won the match when new captain David Norris backheeled home from inches out four minutes from time. The sides last met at Turf Moor on the second weekend of the Clarets' 2008/09 promotion season, Town winning 3-0 with Liam Trotter, Kevin Lisbie and Burnley defender Stephen Jordan scoring the goals. The match had been delayed by 51 minutes after a parachutist landed on the roof of the stand holding the Blues support. Overall, Town have won 15 games between the sides (14 in the league), Burnley nine (nine) with a further 10 (10) ending in draws. Saturday’s referee is Berkshire whistler Trevor Kettle, who has shown 87 yellow cards and 10 red in 25 games so far this season. Kettle’s most recent Town game was the 1-1 home draw with Watford last season in which he booked Grant Leadbitter and Pablo Couñago and two Hornets. Squad from: Lee-Barrett, Fülöp, Edwards, Kennedy, O’Dea, McAuley, Delaney, Brown, Norris, Leadbitter, Bullard, Healy, Dyer, Drury, Peters, Hyam, Hourihane, Carson, Wickham, Scotland.
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