Caretaker-manager Tony Mowbray says his side will come up against the division's form team when they meet Burnley at Portman Road on Tuesday night. Stan Ternent's side beat Leicester on Saturday, their fifth win in a row.

Mowbray has a few injury worries, although there is some good news on that front. Midfielder Jim Magilton has had a recurrence of his hamstring problem and is definitely out while Marcus Bent has had a sore back for a few weeks and is a doubt, although this was not the reason he was substituted at half-time on Saturday.

Darren Bent missed out at Reading due to illness but trained on Monday and could be involved.

Better news is that some of the longer term injuries are on the way back. Martijn Reuser is back at the club after his operation and is progressing and should return to full training before too long.

Similarly Richard Naylor is on the mend after his operation, but is not being rushed. Both are a few weeks away.

Town's longest term injury, Keith Branagan, was also involved in training today and like Reuser and Naylor is being eased back into full training. He was said to be stopping shots but he is still being monitored daily regarding his progress. The keeper had an operation on a shoulder earlier this year.

Mowbray has been impressed by Burnley who he says have been in fine form: “They have been on an exceptionally good run, they're playing with a lot of confidence and had a good win at the weekend at Leicester. They are the team in form at the moment.

“It's a challenge the group of players have got to stand up to and they will have to put in a good performance tomorrow night. That's what we're all looking for and it's a good game for us.

“Burnley have got a lot of strengths and after a tough start they've found their feet and are on a really good run. They've got some big players, they've got a big centre-forward that I've played against many times myself in Gareth Taylor, then there's Steve Davis who sits in midfield and two big centre-backs, so they're a big side.

“But also they play a lot of nice football as well. They aren't a direct team they've got clever players too in Robbie Blake and Ian Moore, talented players.

“They've got their strengths and we've got to be aware of them and give them problems going the other way.”

Mowbray says that Saturday's defeat at Reading is now out of the way but admits it was a set-back: “We're in the winning business, we've got to win games of football and it's never nice to lose games.

“We went into the game confident we were going to get a result. But there's no black and white in football that can guarantee your going to get a result and we were disappointed losing the first goal which was just a straight ball into our box and headed straight in which is always frustrating.

“But we've got to pick ourselves up, I thought there were some good signs, we played some good football but at the same time we've got to tighten things up as you can't hope to concede three goals and win games.

“We've had a good chat about where we're going and what needs to be done and hopefully we'll see a tighter more compact performance on Tuesday night.”

Town last met Burnley at Portman Road in August 1975, a game which ended in a 0-0 draw. Although a repeat of the clean sheet would be welcome a win is essential as the Blues seek to get the season back on track.

Squad: Ambrose, Armstrong, Brown, Clapham, Couñago, D Bent, Gaardsøe, George, Holland, Hreidarsson, M Bent, Makin, Marshall, McGreal, T Miller, Pullen, Venus, Wilnis and Wright.

Photo: Action Images

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