Town are set to play a behind-closed-doors friendly with Premier League West Ham United at the Premier League side’s Rush Green training ground this afternoon.

Speaking after Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Cardiff City, Blues boss Kieran McKenna said some of his players would be involved in a friendly this week with Town having no first-team game on Saturday.

“They’ll have a weekend off next weekend, but we have a friendly next week,” he told BBC Radio Suffolk. “We’re still integrating some of the new players.

“There’s very, very little training time when we start back after the international break, it’s Saturday plus midweek games every week until the October international break.

“We have to make use of the training time as well, try and get better, so it will be a balance of some good quality training, a match for those who haven’t played so much and, of course, some much-needed rest.”

West Ham are set to field trialist Jesse Lingard, who has been without a club since being released by Nottingham Forest at the end of last season.

It’s understood that the clubs have agreed that the game won’t be filmed and no footage will be made available.

Photo: TWTD

ChampionsofInnsbruck added 09:48 - Sep 7 This is so much better than it was. The summer pre-season saw us have our best league preparations for decades, playing good clubs and in as competitive games as possible for pre-season. Now we are making sure we don't waste our break by working with West Ham to keep both sides fit is smart business.
26

blues1 added 10:44 - Sep 7 Just seems a,strange thing to do. All you hear, is managers complaining about the schedule, too many games with no break. Have the chance for the majority of the squad to get a break, and arrange a friendly. Get the reasons in favour of it, but still makes little sense to me.
-15

Dissboyitfc added 10:52 - Sep 7 I think it’s ideal, a chance to look at Axel!
12

Tractor_Boy_Tommy added 11:30 - Sep 7 Spot on blues1 very strange
-14

rodney76 added 11:31 - Sep 7 I would hope that it is played with kid gloves on as an unnecessary injury to a star player would make it a terrible idea. Players get injured in training and even pre-match warm-ups these days as they are so finely tuned. Perhaps it will be second eleven stuff as in the Carabao. This would make more sense to me.
1

Billericay12 added 11:54 - Sep 7 A good opportunity for some who have had limited game time like Edmondson plus Axel and Dane Scarlett and against quality opposition and not far to travel. What’s not to like ?
12

slade1 added 12:04 - Sep 7 Excellent idea in my opinion. It keeps players fresh and fit. It's hardly a competitive match, more like a stroll in the park to keep the legs moving. Anyway, I am sure the players involved will be really looking forward to it.
10

berkstractorboy added 12:12 - Sep 7 For those moaning about too many games etc, they would still be training this week so playing a game is just a different training session especially as they have no game Saturday. Very sensible I would say and you can trust KM and the physio team to not take risks on players. Remember, as many players get injured in training as they do matches.
16

TractorCam added 12:21 - Sep 7 blues1 have you ever heard McKenna moan at the schedule?
12

oldblue added 12:44 - Sep 7 Dane Scarlett with England U21....
4

BeattiesBackPocket added 13:16 - Sep 7 I normally agree with you Blues1 but not on this and some other comments. There’s no way either team is going balls up into tackles and both teams will be under strength so a chance again for the fringe players to get a game and keep match sharpness and fitness up. West Ham will have a bigger schedule than us this season with europe, 2 cups and the league so if they see it as a useful tool as well what’s the problem?

7

Carberry added 13:23 - Sep 7 The difference is this is at the beginning of the season not in the middle, so some players are still short of match fitness and it's not in Queensland or California!
6

SheptonMalletBlue added 13:39 - Sep 7 Blues1 and Tommy. Are you saying you know more about the squad than KM?
7

Foreverdon_Blue added 14:03 - Sep 7 This is an excellent idea and gives the players not on international duty some minutes during the break to keep the momentum going. We did a similar thing last season with a friendly with Tottenham. For anybody who doesn't understand the reasoning, please recall back to the McCarthy days when we lost every single game after an international break!
8

paul73 added 14:27 - Sep 7 How can this be strange. !!.. Perfect opportunity for the likes of Evans, Taylor ,Williams ,Fridge, Aluko ,Harness and Hutchinson to get some match time into their legs. These players haven't any real minutes on the pitch so far this season ... it will be a good work out.
6

dirtydingusmagee added 14:34 - Sep 7 some of the players are kicking their heels waiting for a chance to show what they are about, and show fitness, no problem, Mc Kenna wont be risking too much, Trust his judgement .
6

OliveR16 added 14:59 - Sep 7 The greatest risk of injury is having players playing in competitive matches when they are far from match fit. This is why the clubs arrange these matches.
5

Dissboyitfc added 15:06 - Sep 7 Foreverdon and in Lamberts time! In fact in every recent managers reign we would lose after international break!
1

wischip added 15:33 - Sep 7 Is the top secret, behind closed dorrs match going on right now ? Do we find out any match details or does it stay hidden in the Town vault for 50 years or forever ?
1

Skip73 added 16:07 - Sep 7 I just knew Tractor Tommy would find something wrong.
1

gosblue added 16:25 - Sep 7 If Jesse Linguard doesn’t end up at Wet Spam, I’d love him at Ipswich but there’s no way he’d play for our wages, would he?
1

pants426 added 16:52 - Sep 7 Train Hard Fight (Play) Easy!!
1

Bazza8564 added 17:04 - Sep 7 Gosblue, nope he was on 200k a week at Forest and has top clubs all over him from Turkey, but it's a nice thought. KM will use this productively, he does everything that way, it astounds me that people post such nonsense and pretend to know better. I shall be more interested to read his own take on how he used the game than 25% of the comments above which are utterly stupid

5

gosblue added 17:14 - Sep 7 KMcK thinks and acts like a premier league manager. West Ham obviously think this is a worthwhile exercise as well.
2

PhilsAngels added 17:22 - Sep 7 Who played and what was the score Phil?
3

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