Town boss Mick McCarthy says fans should be patient with strikers David McGoldrick and Noel Hunt ahead of Saturday’s Championship play-off semi-final second leg against Norwich City at Carrow Road.

McGoldrick, 27, was back on the bench for Saturday’s 1-1 first leg draw with the Canaries having been sidelined with a niggly thigh injury for three months. The frontman's most recent appearance came at Rotherham at the start of February.

Hunt, 32, suffered what was thought to be a season-ending knee injury at Fulham, also in February, but made a quicker than expected recovery and was amongst the subs at Blackburn on the final day of the regular season as well as on Saturday.

"As with Noel Hunt, it would be a cameo appearance if [McGoldrick] got on the pitch," McCarthy told BBC Radio Suffolk. "Noel could manage half an hour I reckon and Didzy about 20 minutes."

The Blues are a striker down following Saturday's first leg with loanee Luke Varney rupturing his achilles and out for at least six months.

Meanwhile, Hunt’s older brother Stephen was so focused on the Blues’ play-off bid he was unable to appear at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court yesterday to answer a speeding charge. The 33-year-old was facing a charge of travelling at 89 mph on the A14 close to Newmarket in September last year.

A letter to the court from Hunt’s solicitor said the Irishman wanted to accept a fixed penalty notice, however, he had been unable to do so as it was sent to an old address in Kesgrave rather than his current home in Sutton Coldfield.

The letter added: “We would ask the court to accept the apologies of both the solicitor and our client for not being present.

“He is a professional footballer and is currently fully focused on the football Championship play-off his team are currently in.”

With the court unable to issue a fixed penalty notice, the letter was treated as a not guilty plea and the hearing adjourned.

Photo: Action Images

MaySixth added 10:22 - May 13 Lives in sutton Coldfield?? No wonder he has to rush into work every day!
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karls_dad added 10:25 - May 13 Just what other strikers do we have? it,s real blow, neither could do a half! hmm not good.
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hoppy added 10:26 - May 13 "McCarthy Calls for Patience* With Strike Pair" * other card games are also available.
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Michael11 added 10:39 - May 13 Hopefully 20 mins is all Didz will need to rattle in a 30 yarder anyway! Even if McGoldrick had 90 minutes in him do you really think he'd tell the press?
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Razor added 10:45 - May 13 Didds in 88th
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werderbremenblue added 10:56 - May 13 It's all set up for Didz to come off the bench and score the winner
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ThatMuhrenCross added 11:04 - May 13 What's he doing living in Sutton Coldfield? Nice town, but his nearest professional club would surely be Aston Villa or Walsall there....
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DurhamTownFan added 11:08 - May 13 He must be settled in the area following his time at Wolves. Maybe setting down long-term roots there. Even if he stays next year, it will surely be his last? Re: McG: I agree with Michael11. Perhaps he's keeping it quiet to fool Norwich, and also out of respect for Freddie Sears who's done a good job. I don't think he was really all that fit against Fulham earlier in the year, but did ok when he was forced on!

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unknown100 added 11:09 - May 13 It's strange to me that everyone is calling for mcgoldrick to be our saviour, before he got his long term injury, people were complaining about him being greedy and making the wrong decisions, I think if he hadn't got injured he would have got dropped, then Sears came in and basically helped make sure we got in the playoffs! Even if fit, I'd play Sears and Murphy, he would give a massive boost to the crowd if we needed a late goal! Can't wait for Saturday

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TR11BLU added 11:43 - May 13 @unknown100 Couldnt agree more, perfectly happy with M&S, they can take us to Wembley.
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Europablue added 11:52 - May 13 Murphy and Sears should do the biz, but it's nice to be excited by the options on the bench too, and I haven't been for a while.
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TheSelkirk added 12:34 - May 13 If it was the McGoldrick of old (i.e. pre Premiership interest) coming off the bench for 20 minutes, then this would be a far more interesting and exciting prospect. As it is, I am happy enough to rely on the Murphy / Sears combo that have served us well to now.
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muccletonjoe added 13:05 - May 13 I don't think we would be in the play offs without sears, him and Murphy are much better together than Murphy and mcgoldrick
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BackTheBlues added 13:31 - May 13 If he plays 433 - both Murph and Sears struggle as a partnership, because they are so far apart... However that formation worked a treat at home! I think Didz will come on regardless of the score, hopefully at 0 - 0 around 75 minutes - should just about allow him a sighter and a shot!
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 14:17 - May 13 If McG comes on, it might be a case of going for broke, in which event Sears might not come off. Actually, I'd like to see all three on the pitch (Sears, McG, and Murph) at some point, as long as it wasn't because we were in dire straits at the time. We need to ruffle feathers in this match.
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 14:17 - May 13 Even if they could manage 45mins a piece there is the chance that we end up with extra time and one of them is doing 1h 15mins of the highest pressure football you can imagine. Murph and Sears do ok playing wide-ish left and right striker roles respectively (Think of Murphy spending all those seasons on the left wing and all the right sided corners Sears has won us) so with an attacking midfielder/striker like Dids in behind them and 2 foreward thinking midfielders (Bishop and Bru) supplying them and then Skuse covering all sorts of defensive positions, while the wingbacks push on, its a great team and system we could end up with if they were all fit next season. We are only lacking a ntural right-back although MOTM in a playoff semi and local Derby in one is not a bad effort!

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truckertractorboy added 14:59 - May 13 The problem we have like every team in the league u man mark Murphy out of the game we struggle . I know sears and his pace helps but hopefully get 1/2 the 2nd half out of didz u just never know
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bohslegend added 17:10 - May 13 Don't forget, Noel Hunt has done more training than Didz at this stage - poss a more realistic option late in the game - and as we know, he knows how to get a late winner when it's needed!
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Green_Army added 02:36 - May 14 That's probably Stephen's registered address, doubt he lives there currently, probably pairs up with Noel somewhere in Ipswich or just outside.
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Seasider added 14:33 - May 14 Green Army according to EADT he has moved there from Kesgrave,and as he has recently opened a bar in Eire looks as though his time may be up at the end of season? No mention of any other address in Ipswich area
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