Town manager Paul Jewell says more youngsters could join Josh Carson and Connor Wickham in the first team before the end of the season. The Blues boss says there are one or two others pushing for a place behind the teenage duo.

Jewell said: “Ipswich have always had a reputation for producing good players. We’ve got a great training facility at Ipswich and a great academy.

“With Josh, it’s always nice when young players come through. I was speaking to [Swansea manager] Brendan Rodgers in the hotel on Friday night and he was telling me that he had Connor at Reading when he was a 12-year-old.

“It’s always nice for the supporters to see youngsters coming in. We’ve got one or two others underneath them who I think are going to be decent players as well, but it’s difficult to put too much pressure on them too soon with the press. But at the moment Connor and Josh are doing very, very well.”

Luke Hyam, Tom Eastman, Troy Brown and Conor Hourihane are yet to feature in a senior game since the change of management in January, while Shane O’Connor was briefly a sub at Arsenal.

Striker Ronan Murray could potentially be recalled from his loan at Torquay if required, although Jewell says he has no immediate plans to do so, while the likes of striker Caolan Lavery and central defender Josh Meekings are set to progress from the academy into the professional ranks this summer.

Having said that he might give a couple of youngsters an opportunity, the Blues boss doesn’t want those currently in the side slacking in the final weeks of the season: “I might give people a chance but I want the people who are playing at the moment not to want a rest.”

Jewell says Wickham is handling all the speculation regarding his future well given his youth: “He’s a young kid who’s 18 this week and an awful lot’s been spoken about him and he deals with it very, very well.

“He scored a decent goal at Burnley. He never stops running and he’s going to be a top and player and hopefully he can score a few more goals for us.”

Wickham himself says he’s focusing on getting Town promoted next season: “The gaffer told me his plans when he first came in.

“I’ve spoken to him one-on-one several times and I’ve been happy with the ideas he has had in his mind. I signed a contract after that and I want to get Ipswich in the Premier League, which is what we all want to do.”

The England U21 international frontman is also keen for skipper David Norris, who scored Town’s other goal at Burnley on Saturday, to remain at Portman Road: “Chuck’s scored several goals this season and it’s no wonder that other clubs are interested in him. I hope he can stay here and help us to push on for next season.”

Photo: Action Images

Wallingford_Boy added 09:20 - Apr 4 Why was Brendan Rodgers in the hotel on Friday night? Bit random..
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PhilTWTD added 09:23 - Apr 4 Swansea played at Preston on Saturday.
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Back_The_Boss added 09:36 - Apr 4 Good news! Bloomin Swansea let me down on my accumalator on saturday!
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RIPbobby added 09:39 - Apr 4 I think we need to give all of the youngster mentioned minutes on the pitch. I also think that the club needs to give all the youth team players another year or 2 on their contracts. Surely they can't be on too much money. It makes me think about the decent players that we have lost by not giving them a decent period of time. Players like Scott Baron and Scott Loach are decent pro's who would have done ok here.

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bluearmy77 added 09:40 - Apr 4 I watched the reserves at Watford in the reserves last week and Ainsley played up front which i believe is his natural posistion, i wonder if he might be given a go to prove himself in the 1st team up front? We don't have many strikers left at the club!
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Wallingford_Boy added 10:01 - Apr 4 Thanks Phil, guess I should have worked that out for myself!
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Lightningboy added 10:16 - Apr 4 Seeing as we're "safe",let's start playing Hyam instead of the overrated Leadbitter.
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clive_baker added 10:29 - Apr 4 Leadbitter is leagues above Hyam. Admittedly he hasn't had the best of seasons but he doesn't need people getting on his back, he's an excellent player who is still fairly young. We're lucky to have him. I would like to see Ainsley and especially Eastman get a sniff as tommy smith is out on loan and i think Eastman has more potential than Troy Brown. That said, Delaney and Macauley have been excellent.

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Worcester added 10:33 - Apr 4 Nice to see them get a game
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Blackbirdblue added 10:46 - Apr 4 Yes, Wickham seems a level-headed lad ---also appreciates the contribution his captain makes in the game ---we definately need him onboard next season!! Yes, get Hyam in ---- no problem with that!! COYB!!
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broomfield123 added 12:06 - Apr 4 Give as many of the youngsters as possible. They cant do much worse than the dross we have witnessed this season.Least they will put in a bit of effort
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brian_a_mul added 12:07 - Apr 4 How did carson play on saturday??? Any reports Iv read dont say much.
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Garv added 12:33 - Apr 4 Clive Baker supplying the comedy today ladies and gents.
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Mark added 12:49 - Apr 4 It makes sense to give the youngsters a chance. As for Leadbitter, I agree we should not get on his back as he works hard, although he has been a disappointment for me. A £2.7M signing who hasn't scored from open play in about 18-months. His contract expires summer 2012 I believe, so to avoid another Deleney/McAuley/Norris situation I guess we have to either give him a new contract this summer or sell him.

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Eireannach_gorm added 12:51 - Apr 4 Now we're safe why are we playing loanees instead of contracted players? ( Dyer Vs Civelli ). Surely now is the time to test the youngsters and give them some experience. Think we also should be putting squeeze on Norris by playing Hyam.
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dan_itfc55 added 15:02 - Apr 4 nice pic eireannach_gorm lol
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Seasider added 15:35 - Apr 4 Looks like CW signed extension to his contract because of PJ then.He is certainly more pro-active than his predecessor,more scouting,more one to one chats with players, even getting involved in transfer deals as much as possible and talking face to face with the owner on several occasions and other managers more often than RK Looks like loner Keen just did a bit of coaching and not much else,if Paul Jewell had taken over a month earlier could have been pushing for play offs now! When will he start choosing the wine and curtains in the boardroom then?

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DiamondGezzer added 16:09 - Apr 4 Seasider :- Aagh ! It could all have been so different. If we are talking of giving the youngsters a go, forgive me if I make a plea for Peters and or O'connor [ just to add a little excitement].
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dirtydingusmagee added 17:12 - Apr 4 nothing to lose now,give the youngsters a go,assess what we have,Hyam should deff be playing .
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Bergholtblue added 18:45 - Apr 4 Anyone know how Murray is performing at Torquay?
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Fartman added 20:54 - Apr 4 I'm not so sure about the comment saying that Tom Eastman has more potential than Troy Brown? Eastman is an old style central defender, who is a bit of a Bambie when being challenged on the deck. While I think Troy Brown is more of a footballer, he reads the game well, he positions himself smartly and looks more soild at this level. But I guess those people who works with the lads every week knows best in the end. Hopefully we can have a look at Caolan Lavery in the last few games, as he sounds quite exciting. He has been a bit unlucky with injuries this season.

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Calmingwind added 21:22 - Apr 4 murry is impressing from what i have read on various sites i think carson has had a good couple of games and i dont see why he cant make many more apperances until the end of the season
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I_8_NARWICH added 21:41 - Apr 4 I like how Jewell is playing the youngsters but is there really much point because if we do get players in the summer(which i expect) are any of them actually going to feature? Just like the end of last season what ever happened to Billy Clark-completly gone off the radar.
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Fartman added 22:46 - Apr 4 I've heard that Clark's attitude isn't the best, and that's why he hasn't had his chances. You got to keep you head down and work your socks of to make it in the game. There is no doubt that Clark is a more talented/skillfull player than Hyam, but not so sure about his hunger and commitment.
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HateDerekDavis added 10:16 - Apr 5 Déjà vu? http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=16332&otd=y (please don't read anything into the avatar, I'm just lazy)
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