 Tuesday, 29th Nov 2011 10:45 Town go into tonight’s game at Burnley looking to end their run of five successive defeats (KO 7.45pm). Blues boss Paul Jewell is forced to start a third keeper in three games with Arran Lee-Barrett coming into the side due to injuries to Richard Wright and David Stockdale. Wright drops out having made his third debut for the club in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Reading, while Stockdale is still out with the shoulder injury he suffered in training last week, but could be fit for the weekend home game with Watford having said he should train in the next few days. Central defender Ibrahima Sonko could come back into the side depending on how he came through training on Monday and this morning’s light session in the North-West, the squad having flown up yesterday afternoon. If the Senegalese international is considered fine, he will resume his central defensive partnership with Danny Collins. Otherwise, Ãvar Ingimarsson will keep his place. Carlos Edwards and Aaron Cresswell are likely to continue in the full-back positions, while Jewell again has decisions to make in his midfield. After another poor performance and result against Reading on Saturday, the Blues boss looks likely to recall senior men Jimmy Bullard and Lee Bowyer, with skipper Grant Leadbitter out with a groin injury and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas having failed to impress against the Royals. Jewell says there were no tantrums from either Bullard or Bowyer after being left out: “Both players were disappointed but took it as it was. No player can play every game these days, certainly at their age. “We just changed it around, changed the formation. You drop players, leave them out or rest them, they’re no different to any other players. I try and pick a team to win any game. “I’ve never been one for really changing the team. If you look at the teams which are winning matches, they very rarely rest players. “We’re searching a little bit for a formula. We hit on one with the diamond for five or six games, now we need to hit on one again.” Keith Andrews will keep his place, while Josh Carson or Lee Martin will occupy the other role if Jewell chooses to go with a four-man midfield. Daryl Murphy could be used as a fifth midfielder if the Town manager looks to return to the 4-5-1 formation utilised for much of last season and at the beginning of this campaign, or alternatively the Irishman will again start up front in a two-man attack alongside Michael Chopra. Speaking yesterday, Jewell was hopeful that Murphy would be fine to play despite some hamstring tightness: “Daryl’s had a few niggling hamstring injuries. He was a little bit tight at training on Sunday but we’re hoping he’ll be OK to start.” The Town manager says he once targeted opposite number Eddie Howe during his playing days: “I don’t know Eddie. I tried to sign him and Richard Hughes when he was at Bournemouth and I was at Wigan. “He was a 5ft 9in tall centre-half, so he was obviously a good player. He did very well at Bournemouth as a manager and he’s now cutting his teeth at Burnley.” More recently, the Blues boss made a summer move for Clarets striker Jay Rodriguez, but felt the Lancashire club wanted too much cash for the England U21 international: “He’s a good player, he’s got good movement, he’s athletic and he’s young. “I think they wanted £5 million for him. I think he’s going to be a good player and we’ll have to be on our mettle to guard against him.” Burnley manager Howe, who celebrates his 34th birthday today, says his side need to carry on the good work after they — perhaps ominously for Town - came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Hull on Saturday: “We need to follow it up with a performance and hopefully the result will follow. It’s a massive game for us. Back to back wins would transform the feeling around the club. “I think the players' belief has been knocked the last four games, where we haven't actually performed too badly. “The Leeds game we should have won, the Birmingham game we should have got a really good point. That's four points and huge confidence from those games. “As it is, we performed OK but we didn't get anything. Then it's difficult for the players to maintain that belief in their ability. “But the lads got a huge confidence boost when David Edgar scored his first goal and started to believe in themselves again, and from then on in we played some great stuff and looked like we were going to score every time we attacked.” January Town target Charlie Austin is out with a shoulder problem, while midfielder Ross Wallace is suspended having amassed five bookings. His manager says the Scot will be a loss: “That's a big blow for us because Ross was a player who really came into his own again late on on Saturday. “I think he's done really well this season. He's a real goal threat and he's added assists to his game as well.“ No current Blue has been a Claret, although scout David Hamilton was at Turf Moor as a player in the early nineties. No one in Eddie Howe’s squad has ever featured for Town, although the Blues' on-loan midfielder Jaime Peters and Burnley's David Edgar are close friends having played at various levels with Canada together. In April, Town picked up their seventh league away win of the 2010/11 season as first half goals from skipper David Norris and Connor Wickham saw Paul Jewell’s men to a 2-1 victory at Turf Moor. Norris and Wickham netted within seven minutes of one another before the break, with the Clarets pulling one back through Jay Rodriguez in the second half. On the second weekend of last 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. David Edgar saw red for two bookable offences. Overall, Town have won 16 of the games between the sides (15 in the league), Burnley nine (nine) with a further 10 (10) ending in draws. Prior to this evening's match there will be a minute's applause in tribute to Gary Speed. Tonight’s referee is Nigel Miller from County Durham, who has shown 52 yellow and two red cards in 17 games so far this season. Miller’s most recent Town match was the 0-0 draw with Bristol City at Portman Road in February 2010 in which he booked only Connor Wickham and former Blue Gavin Williams. Squad from: Lee-Barrett, Cropper, Edwards, Cresswell, Wabara, Collins, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Smith, Bullard, Bowyer, Andrews, Carson, Martin, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Chopra, Scotland, Ellington.
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