Central defender John McGreal remains Town's only injury concern ahead of Tuesday's play-off semi-final second leg at West Ham. McGreal has a slight calf strain and did not train with the rest of the squad on Monday.

Town boss Joe Royle says that McGreal will be assessed on Tuesday before a decision is made on whether to play him: “At this stage John is a big doubt. He hasn't done anything this morning but we will give him 24 hours and he will travel with us.

“We hope he can come through and I'd love him to play. He has a slight strain at the bottom of his calf and he's done nothing at all today.

“I'm pretty sure that if the match was next weekend he'd play because we got him off quickly and there's not an awful lot wrong with him. But at this stage he is a doubt.

“John has become very important to us. His partnership with Matt Elliott has been the foundation for our improved defensive record of late. The performances against the likes of Sunderland and West Ham were founded on those two.”

Town will travel to East London on the day of the game and McGreal will be tested in the afternoon.

Royle has named the same squad as for the first leg but has added Drissa Diallo, Georges Santos and Alun Armstrong. With Richard Naylor likely to take over in central defence if John McGreal fails to make it, Armstrong looks the most likely to get a place on the bench.

Armstrong has rarely been involved this season but the Town boss says he would not hesitate to include him if required: “I'd have no qualms about bringing Alun Armstrong in. When Alun's fully fit he's a fine player.”

Royle says his side go into the game hoping for back-to-back clean sheets for the first time this season: “It would be nice. But the opposite of that is that we don't often draw a blank. I think it's only four times away from home this season that we've drawn a blank. We'll be going for goals as usual.

“We know that if we draw or win this game then we'll be in the final. The games are just getting bigger. It's another big evening and this now becomes the biggest game of the season.”

The Blues' manager was impressed with his team's display against the Hammers in the first leg: “I was pleased with the way we played. It was the right mix between free-flowing football when we had the ball and defensively-minded football when we didn't, and that went for everybody.

“Alan Pardew will say there's more to come from West Ham, particularly from their strike force. From my point of view I thought we defended very well against them.

“They've got players that everyone in this league would covet, so there's no point in saying that they haven't got good players, and on their home ground they'll be up for it.

“But that can work two ways. Alan was making noises about how we would handle their crowd. I think they've got to handle their crowd as well. There's the expectation of a home crowd, particularly the West Ham home crowd.”

Royle says he welcomes the appointment of Premiership official Neale Barry for the fixture: “I think he'll have to be strong. Ian Dowie's made the point going up to Sunderland that they want a strong referee. I have noted once or twice this year that we've had difficult games with inexperienced referees. There'll be no such complaint with Neale Barry.”

West Ham assistant manager Peter Grant says he expects Don Hutchison to return to the fold for the second leg: "Don was struggling a little bit, to be fair, with a calf strain - and that is why he wasn't in the 16.

"David Connolly came in and did what you expect although you always want more from everybody.

"We would probably have made a change but Don would definitely have been in the 16 if he was fit.”

Grant felt the Hammers' performance in the first leg was a mixed bag: "There were some good things and some not so good; we probably started at a frantic pace and Ipswich had some good chances just before the break, so to be perfectly honest we thought 'thank goodness we got to half time at 0-0'.

"In the second half we still didn't look as big a threat as we should have with a lot of possession and a lot of nice things in that final third - without looking positive where everything counts.

"Defensively we coped quite well, and with some good things and bad things there has been some stuff to work on.

"But the good aspect of it is we are still in the tie, and it is a game of two halves as a two legged affair.

"We have got 90 minutes to claw that back and hopefully produce a performance and a result that will get us to the Millennium Stadium - it will take nothing less than a victory."

West Ham are expected to have full-back Rufus Brevett back in their side after missing nine months with a foot injury, while Tomas Repka is set to remain in Alan Pardew's team.

Referee Neale Barry, from Scunthorpe, is on the Premiership list and last refereed Town in the 2-0 away win at Watford last season. He has shown 97 yellow and six red cards in 34 games during 2003/04 and was the ref in Sunday's Division Two play-off game between Swindon and Brighton.

Squad: Davis, Price, Wilnis, Richards, McGreal, Elliott, Naylor, Santos, Diallo, Magilton, Miller, Wright, Westlake, Bart-Williams, Reuser, Bent, Kuqi, Bowditch, Armstrong.

Photo: Action Images

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