Town boss Mick McCarthy says he’s hopeful that both Cole Skuse and Ryan Fraser will be fit for Friday’s live Sky game against Birmingham at Portman Road (KO 7.45pm), while striker Freddie Sears will be fine having missed Tuesday’s game at Leeds with a tight hamstring.

Skuse and Fraser were both replaced in the 76th minute at Elland Road, the former Bristol City man with a knee problem and the Scotland U21 international having taken a series of knocks.

“I’m hopeful,” McCarthy said. “Cole came out and did the warm-up and he’ll be fine. Ryan’s still having treatment, so we’ll wait until tomorrow. He just got a kick, he got a few kicks, to be fair.”

McCarthy says Sears will also be OK to face the Midlanders: “Freddie’s fine. Freddie couldn’t have played at full tilt [at Leeds], at 100 per cent and I needed everybody at 100 per cent on Tuesday night.

“If he had gone out and tried it 100 per cent and he’d got injured we’d got 40 games left, 39 now, so there was no point.

“And I’ve got good strikers, it’s not like before when I’d got Murph and Didz and, with the greatest respect to all the others, they weren’t Murph and Didz.

“Well, I’ve got Murph and Didz and Brett and Freddie now and they’re all really good strikers.

“So, if one of them’s got a problem I don’t have to be wheeling him out and getting the best of him for 60 minutes, I’ve got options. It’s great.”

McCarthy also confirmed that Kevin Bru and Teddy Bishop should be back in the squad following their hamstring problems after playing for the U21s against Birmingham on Monday.

“Kevin’s trained and Bish trained yesterday, so I’m hoping that they’ll be OK,” the Blues manager added.

Recent signing Tommy Oar also played in the U21s game and could also be in the matchday 18 for the first time.

Friday's match is a Kid for a Quid game with under-16s able to watch the match for £1 in all areas of the ground.

Photo: Action Images

PJH added 14:37 - Sep 17 If all are fit I would imagine starting team the same as at Leeds unless Freddie comes in for AMN. What a bench though with potentially Sears(or AMN),Pitman,Bishop and Bru.
2

Langdon_Blue added 14:44 - Sep 17 It's fantastic having such a strong squad this season. I wonder how many teams in the Championship would be just 1 point off of the automatic places, without yet being able to field it's spine of the team (Berra, Hyam, Bishop & Murphy). With 2 of those still to return and the other 2 to only get better as they recover from injury and gain match fitness...not to mention Bru's return too, we can only get stronger.

3

SamWhiteUK added 14:49 - Sep 17 Reading articles that go into the depth of our squad such as this one make me really excited for the game ahead. Not going to get to many this season, but I'll be there on Friday cheering the boys on. Word of warning though - the two games I've seen, live or otherwise, have been Brighton and Reading....
1

Smithy added 14:57 - Sep 17 Freddie, best signing this club has made for at least a decade
7

mutters added 15:08 - Sep 17 Smithy - Freddie has been a great signing, though i'd personally say our best signing(s) has been MM (and TC ) :-) A whole different vibe now, love it.
5

ITFCGloryDays added 15:23 - Sep 17 Agree with Smithy and of PJH's words add Tommy Oar to that, with for obvious reasons a defender & keeper...
1

kilkmilk added 15:35 - Sep 17 Ohhhhh Freddie Freddie!
1

rickw added 15:56 - Sep 17 I would probably bring Bialkowski back in, Bru in for Douglas and Sears in for McGoldrick, however I expect Mick to stick with a winning team (not that there's anything wrong with that!)
2

jpring89 added 16:14 - Sep 17 Got a feeling this will be a high scoring game 4-2 to town our luck has to turn soon infront of the sky cameras surely. Murphy to get a double sears and mcg to score the others. WERE GOING TO WIN !!!
0

Chicago_Blue added 16:23 - Sep 17 Can't wait to have Bru back in the side. Really does give us something different.
1

bohslegend added 16:30 - Sep 17 COYB! Looking better and better. Remember.... it' s marathon, not a snickers...
5

hoppy added 16:35 - Sep 17 This bit seems a bit harsh... no wonder the players are all keen to play for Mick these days... Freddie Sears will be fined having missed Tuesday's game at Leeds with a tight hamstring. Let's hope those that play tomorrow put on a decent show for the cameras for once with an impressive win.
2

Seasider added 17:12 - Sep 17 From the above looks like Mick may bring back Fraser and Skues straight away. Interesting what he is going to do about Bart?Gerken came in when our No1 keeper had compassionate leave,and has kept his place despite not playing that well in my opinion.At fault against Brighton and especially Reading,even flapped at one against Leeds despite having little to do.Made one save,the same as he did against Reading unfortunately in that game the other 5 went in!!! Lets hope our stubborn Yorkshire Manager feels he has now made his point after the stick received following Reading game,and Bart will be reinstated.

7

warktheline added 17:15 - Sep 17 Wholeheartedly agree with many, our club is unrecognisable from those dark days gone by.... It's good to have selection headaches. McCarthy now has a wealth of talent at his disposal .
2

GFH added 17:16 - Sep 17 The curse of the sky cameras.
0

PJH added 17:27 - Sep 17 @Seasider-I agree that Bart should be in but in view of the clean sheet at Leeds I would be very surprised if Gerks did not play tomorrow. I had thought with MM saying that Gerken would be playing at Leeds that maybe Bart was unavailable so I was surprised that he was on the bench. As you say,Gerks flapped at one late on at Leeds and I thought he could have caught it-he also wandered off his line in the first half and if our defender(can't remember who)had not cleared he was in no mans land. Bart had actually looked pretty good in the two games prior to his Dad's sad death so in my view last tuesday was the logical time to bring him back. As I say,as we did not concede on tuesday I would imagine that Gerks will still be in goal. I do not think however that Mick is in any way influenced by what is said on here or elsewhere when deciding on his team.

2

Kirbmeister added 17:32 - Sep 17 Lovely to see us all totally positive again after our win, when it was all complete doom and gloom before the Leeds game. Amazing what three points will do.
2

JoeyB_732 added 17:38 - Sep 17 Would love to see Bru or Bish come into the starting 11, but it's always hard to change a winning team. Can't wait for Friday. COYB!
1

oddball added 18:17 - Sep 17 Walktheline. I whole heartily apoligize for my post, dont know what came over me, difference of opinion yes, insults no.
1

muccletonjoe added 18:20 - Sep 17 If they are all fit, I think it will probably be an unchanged line up, depends whether mick feels 3 games in 8 days is a bit much for some players and uses 2 or 3 who are coming back from injury
0

Keaneish added 18:35 - Sep 17 Hyam is the big missing piece to our puzzle at the moment. When's he back?
1

TimmyH added 20:32 - Sep 17 Hyam will be back soon (a month or so) and then get injured again!...I could only see him now as on the bench anyway.
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nhabo added 20:52 - Sep 17 Kirbmeister, you're spot on. Shouldn't be that way after just one bad result but It is amazing what three points will do. Think we could all take a leaf out of MM's book and stay a bit more level when we win and when we lose. Trust in this squad more than any in about 15 years.
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Warkys_Tash added 21:22 - Sep 17 Love Fraser, first name on the team sheet for me, but teams will target him & so will the hatchet men unfortunately - Just like they did to Joniesta..
2

Langdon_Blue added 21:45 - Sep 17 Timmy H - really?? I'd expect a fit Hyam to be picked ahead of Douglas. Far better player, tackler, distributer of the ball than I've seen so far from Dougie...
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