Central defender Josh Yorwerth (above), left-back Myles Kenlock, winger Larsen Touré and striker Brett Pitman will be handed their debuts in a much-changed Town line-up which faces Stevenage in the first round of the Capital One Cup at Portman Road on Tuesday evening (KO 7.45pm). Skipper Luke Chambers is the only player in the XI lining up against Boro who started at Brentford on Saturday.

Kenlock will be making his first senior appearance, while summer signing from Cardiff Yorwerth’s only previous experience of first team football was during a loan spell with Hereford United in the Evo-Stik League last season.

Guinean international Touré and Pitman will also make their Blues bows having joined the club in the summer, while Giles Coke and Jonathan Douglas will be making their first starts.

Manager Mick McCarthy usually keeps his team close to his chest but on this occasion named his side at his pre-match press conference: “I’ve no reason why not. Gerks is in the goals, Chambo’s at right-back. Josh Yorwerth centre-half, Myles Kenlock [at left-back].

“Tabby, Giles Coke, Jonathan Douglas, Larsen Touré [are the midfield from left to right], David McGoldrick and Brett Pitman. Nobody can tell me that’s a weak team. That team might have to play on a Saturday in the league. That team could be picked.

“Let’s see how they do. Having had the debut of Josh Emmanuel, who I thought was outstanding on Saturday and didn’t deserve to be on a team that drew, he should have been on the winning team, I’m hopeful that Josh Yorwerth and Myles Kenlock will see that and it can inspire them to a good performance.”

McCarthy says Jonny Parr is likely to miss Tuesday’s game and also Saturday’s home match with Sheffield Wednesday as he continues his recovery from the thigh injury he suffered in pre-season, while Teddy Bishop is going to be out for longer with his hamstring problem.

“Jonny Parr’s been out training with Lids [fitness coach Andy Liddell], just getting his fitness and getting rehab in. He’s not joined us at all yet. We were talking about Thursday for him to train.

“And Bish, he got a tight hamstring. I try to see a silver lining in every cloud because we’ve lost one of the best young midfielders for a while, but maybe that will coincide with his shins getting a bit of treatment and he’ll feel better when he comes back, so neither of them will be fit.”

He added: “It’s trying to take the opportunity when it’s there, rather than trying to rush him back with a hamstring. We’ve got six games in 21 days from the start of the season, potentially seven if we win the game tomorrow night.

“They will come so thick and fast that it coincides then with the two-week [international] break. He’s given himself a chance to be fit when he gets back.

“And I’d sooner he was fit for the next 40 games than be limping along and finding out that we’ve got a problem here and a problem there. Let’s see if we can get him right and he’ll be better for it.”

Kevin Bru limped off at Brentford but McCarthy says a problem picked up in training is a bigger issue: “Kevin trained today. I thought he might have done his hamstring [on Saturday] and then subsequently he has done his hamstring this morning.

“He came out and trained this morning, it was cramp on Saturday. He came out, he started great and he just pulled up in the training session.

“That’s quite sad, he’ll have a scan tomorrow, see how bad it is. Hopefully, it’s not too bad and he’ll be back quite quickly.”

Despite another central midfielder Luke Hyam also being sidelined for around three more months having undergone knee surgery, McCarthy says he’s not yet going to look to the loan market with several other options in his squad.

“Tabby can play and I think now FIFA have deemed that Adam McDonnell can play,” he said. “He could have worked in Tesco for five quid an hour but we couldn’t pay him and play him. But there are more people who have bigger problems than FIFA that I’ve got.

“The one thing he’s really good at is playing football and he was denied that opportunity. Now, thankfully, he is able to play.

“We’ll see. I’m not going to go dipping into the loan market. We’ve got Cokey, we’ve got Dougie, we’ve got Skusey, Tabby, a couple of young ‘uns if we need to have a look at them. So I won’t be chasing any players at this time.”

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Kenlock, Yorwerth, Berra, Coke, Douglas, Touré, Tabb, McGoldrick, Pitman.

Photo: Action Images

MaySixth added 14:42 - Aug 10 Would like to see Adam McDonnell and Dylan Connolly off the bench for this one.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 14:44 - Aug 10 Early injuries are a bit of a worry, but we have more backup this year. While Mick will not want to lose this match, it doesn't look as if it is the be all and end all for him. Obviously not our strongest available eleven, but it will be interesting to see how they get on. I guess that's Mick's idea too. But it would be nice to have a cup run - as long as it doesn't affect our league performance.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 14:47 - Aug 10 *affect negatively, that is. Sometimes it can have the opposite effect.
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ThatMuhrenCross added 14:48 - Aug 10 Would have thought this would have proved a great platform for the likes of Henshall, Connolly, McDonnell and Benyu as well, to be honest....
6

bluefeast added 14:52 - Aug 10 Tabby at left midfield ,its hardly the future ,can we not play someone who can go past a player and cause an issue
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TennesseeBlue added 14:56 - Aug 10 Tabbys back. YAY. he's a different classy is Tabby
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carlo88 added 14:57 - Aug 10 I would have used this match to try the Chambers/Berra combo at centre half, plus give Berra some match practice before Saturday.
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toxtethblue added 15:06 - Aug 10 "Tabby can play..." Oh yes, different class...
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jas0999 added 15:07 - Aug 10 Not convinced that midfield shouts goals and creativity. Hard workers yes. Interesting experiment and you can't argue that the strike force still looks excellent. I'm not sure we have enough creative midfield options at the club, with many in that bracket out of favour. That team however still looks strong, and is surely enough to beat Stevenage at home. Good test of the back up players as well.

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karls_dad added 15:08 - Aug 10 Well what do i know? obviously not much! as i would have thought getting the first team main players up to match fitness would have been priority! Murph by all accounts was not up to speed on Saturday as well as a few others! all a little rusty? Can,t see us winning this game now.
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RichmondBlue added 15:08 - Aug 10 McGoldrick and Pitman up front is a formidable strike force for this competition at this stage. Would still like to see more defensive cover brought in.
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BackTheBlues added 15:13 - Aug 10 For all the doubters, he's got to play Tabby to give him the minutes as looks like he's going to be needed for the next couple from the bench at least. I've got no problem with the lad, works hard, isn't a 'shabby' player and quite frankly he's reliable enough to do a job! Like all, I'd love a cup run - but not this cup! Save it for the FA Cup - put on a good show tomorrow, probably win in front of the fans get some momentum, blood the young'uns but after that I'm not too bothered! Rather rest our better players and save them for Saturday!

3

muccletonjoe added 15:14 - Aug 10 Must admit, i thought Mcdonnell would play. Be interesting to see how these play together
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Axeldalai_lama added 15:17 - Aug 10 Karls_dad, 6 or 7 games in the next 21 days will more than get them up to speed. Murph was just muscled out of the game by a big unit of a centre back, they'd clearly targetted him, giving Sears more space, with which he prospered.
4

MattinLondon added 15:20 - Aug 10 The fact that Henshall wasn't mentioned speaks volumes to where MM sees him in the starting order for a place. I'm not a big Tabb fan but can understand why he is playing - his expereince will be important to Kenlock who will be behind him - he'll be good at talking him throughout the game.
4

bluehook added 15:41 - Aug 10 Shut up you tarts. Three days into the season and people are querying team selection.
12

blueherts added 15:44 - Aug 10 Murph was , as he will now be all season , kept very close to their CBs - It is going to be ineteresting to see but Sears was excellent and that may just free him up We have 4 of the best and cant remember last time we had four strikers of the quality we do - I do want to see Dids get a goal and get some confidence back after two tough injury hit seasons - I just hope he stays through the window ! As for Midfield we have cover but Bru and Bishop are the real creativity - I would be keen to see Dids get a role off the front two ?- would def get their attention ! Henshall - so Mick said - came back to pre season looking good so I can only presume he has drifted backwards again I am looking fwd to seeing the two young Irish boys Connelly and McDonnell - we have some really talented young players now in and around the first team and it is fantastic to see ! Where is Kyle Hammond ? cos he was very highly rated - I know he came back from bad inury but he is a good young un as well Not sure Stevenage have had a great start - they are local to me and I know the jury is out with Teddy S ! Anyway nice to see have such a stronger squad we can put together a decent XI for tommos Sheff W will be a tough match on Saturday

8

StowTractorBoy added 15:46 - Aug 10 After his performance at Brentford on Saturday I am gutted that Bru is now going to be out for a period of time. The guy covers acres of ground and we will miss him I am sure. I just hope this team selection of MMs for tomorrow does not backfire as Stevenage will play their strongest side and look what happened at Crawley last year where we were simply awful. Yes we have a far better squad than last year so hopefully the lads can see us through as would be nice to have a cup run even if it is the league cup. Success breeds success.

4

ElderGrizzly added 15:46 - Aug 10 Jas0999 - Douglas scored more goals than our entire midfield last year, so unfair to say there aren't goals in there.
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Keaneish added 15:47 - Aug 10 If that was a Championship team week in week out we'd go down.
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ChestnutSe added 15:54 - Aug 10 We all know by now that Mick is not bothered by any of the cup competitions. His only focus is on promotion from this league. The cups are a distraction. Suspect he will be hoping for a short run and a small loss.
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muhrensleftfoot added 15:54 - Aug 10 Yes Bru is a big loss. he was outstanding until he went off injured. The natural replacement for him is Douglas who is apparently short of fitness, so hopefully a decent run out tomorrow night will be good, providing he doesn't get injured too. Tabb can also do a job in central midfield. To me he's always been better there than out wide.
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Ipswich121 added 16:00 - Aug 10 @Keanish we would go down if we played 10 players every week- who's rhe other centre back alongside Yorswerth?
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Len_Brennan added 16:02 - Aug 10 Leave Tabby alone. He may not be my favourite player, or our best player, but some of the comments on here are grossly unfair. He was one of our better performers pre-Christmas last season, and very much part of the reason that we got off to a good solid start in the campaign. He may not have the attacking quality of Ryan Fraser, but it is absolutely fair to say that he can do a job at this level. He works his socks off and is a team player who will tirelessly do the unseen dirty work that is needed, especially in tight matches. I get the feeling that some posters are just picking on him because he has become the fall guy for others & it seems to be the thing to do. He doesn't merit it however and I am very happy to see him in a match day squad, even if I wouldn't have him in my current starting XI.

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Bergholtblue added 16:12 - Aug 10 Even with this second string XI we must be better than Boro'. Having said that Boro are desparate for a winn as a pick me up from Saturday. They have no pressure the onus is on us and we always struggle in this competition. Have we won a cup tie with MM in charge yet?
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