Town boss Mick McCarthy says he’ll field a strong line-up when the Blues face Vanarama National League leaders Lincoln City in tomorrow’s FA Cup third round replay at Sincil Bank, however, left-back Myles Kenlock has been ruled out for another three weeks with the calf injury he suffered at QPR recently.

Asked whether he was going to name a full-strength side against the Imps, who drew 2-2 at Portman Road earlier this month, McCarthy said: “I am, there’s no question about it, I’m not going there [and fielding a weakened side]. You’ve seen the full strength squad we’ve got anyway.

“I might make a couple of changes but it’ll still be [a strong team]. I’ve got Wardy, I’ve got Dougie, I’ve got Leon Best to play, I’m not playing kids.”

The Town boss confirmed that he would again start with Dean Gerken in goal, as he did in the first match, with Bartosz Bialkowski dropping to the bench.

McCarthy will still be without strikers David McGoldrick (hamstring) and Brett Pitman (calf) but the pair aren’t too far from a return.

“Pits should be Huddersfield, Didz is more likely to be Preston, he’s going to be three weeks from when he did it, so he’s not going to be back this weekend,” he added.

Skipper Luke Chambers and linchpin midfielder Cole Skuse both missed the Portman Road tie but returned to action on Saturday and are set to start at Sincil Bank, but left-back Kenlock remains sidelined.

“He’ll be another three weeks, so my substitution at QPR wasn’t such a bad one,” McCarthy reflected.

“He was great, he was close to nicking that shirt, I think Jonas Knudsen knows that. There’s no happier person in the building at the minute that Myles Kenlock’s injured than Jonas because he did great, I left him in and he played well.

“Strangely enough, there was a good response from Jonas at the weekend, he was great, but he’s been the same all year. He’s a really solid player for us, Jonas.”

New signing Kieffer Moore is unavailable as he is cup-tied having come on as a sub for Forest Green Rovers in their 2-1 fourth qualifying round victory at Sutton in October. Even if he hadn’t played in that game he would have been ineligible having not been registered to Town for the first tie.

McCarthy says Teddy Bishop is closing in a return to training after his ankle injury, as are Luke Hyam (knee) and Tommy Smith (back) after surgery.

“Bish will be training on Thursday, so he’s making progress,” the Town boss continued. “Luke Hyam will hopefully be training and playing in an U23s game at the beginning of February, a couple of weeks away, the same with Tommy Smith as well.”

The only other players sidelined at present are midfielders Jonny Williams (shoulder) and Giles Coke (knee), who both underwent surgery towards the end of last year.

Photo: TWTD

Vanisleblue2 added 20:53 - Jan 16 Gerken; Emmanuel, Knudsen, Chambers, Berra, Webster, Skuse, Ward, Lawrence, Sears, Dozzell Morris, Digby, Bialkowski, Douglas, McLoughlin
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sydneytown added 21:04 - Jan 16 Just feel this is our season lose at lincoln season over a win would boost confidence maybe a cup run a good second half of season who knows
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patrickswell added 21:30 - Jan 16 You lucky sod, Knudsen...
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runningout added 23:45 - Jan 16 get the sad impression that with a few of our injured squad slowly coming back before window shuts, we won't be getting NEEDED signings... wish I could be encouraged and proved wrong with return of Hyam McGoldrick Coke etc :-(
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mrmorisato added 01:08 - Jan 17 ....I don't really know what to say...deep down I am dreading this one, we fielded a strong team against them ten days ago, even with Lawrence you've got to say Lincoln will still play well to create chances. If we do score the first goal then it will settle a lot of town fan's nerves (fingers crossed) that we don't end up a laughing stock.
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