Fabian Wilnis has said he will fight for his first team place. The Dutchman looks the obvious candidate to miss out now that George Burley has signed Chris Makin, like Wilnis primarily a right-back. Town manager George Burley told Wilnis he was about to bring in another defender so Makin's arrival was no surprise to the Dutchman.
Wilnis, 30, joined Town from De Graafschap two seasons ago as a replacement for Mauricio Taricco and has had an excellent season this year. However, recently Town found themselves with both Wilnis and understudy Gary Croft out injured and George Burley clearly sees further cover as necessary.
However, you wonder whether Croft might be looking at the purchase of Makin and thinking if he is in the manager's plans any longer. Of course, he like Makin, can play either side of the defence, but on the left Town already have Hermann Hreidarsson, Jamie Clapham and Amir Karic. The Slovenian is currently on loan at Crystal Palace but this is not expected to end in a permanent transfer.
Of the battle for the right-back spot Wilnis said: "Of course there will be much more pressure on me now that Chris has arrived but healthy competition is a good thing for the team. It is up to me to keep showing I'm the better player and keep my place in the team."
Town's reserves play their second game in a week tonight when they take on Nottingham Forest. Earlier in the week they played a behind-closed-doors game against OB Odense and drew 1-1 with the Danes. The Town goal came from Ashley Nicholls.
Tonight sees Guillermo Graaven in action at Portman Road for the first time since early in the season. The Dutchman was meant to return to Premier Reserve League action in the game with Wimbledon, but the match was postponed (new date fixed see previous NewsNet). He injured his ankle in his first appearance for Town's reserves in August and needed an operation. He played in the game against Odense and has also featured in U19s games recently.
A recent feature of reserve games has been the inclusion of a number of youngsters. Reserve team manager Dale Roberts said that this is current policy at the club: "What has happened since the new year is that we have been testing the water with the younger players. We're trying to introduce them gently, giving them 30 minutes or a half before substituting them."
This seems to be working with a number of them impressing in reserve fixtures of late. Matt Bloomfield, Lee Beevers, Darren Bent and Steve Burton have all done well when given a chance this season. And all are members of the FA Youth Cup side which has reached the quarter final with Forest on March 14th (KO 7pm).
Reserve squad: Branagan, Pullen, Artun, Beevers, Miller, Brown, Nicholls, Abidallah, Ambrose, Friars, Midgley, Logan, Graaven, Mayes, Bent and Dickinson.
Matt Holland may have another Irish international called off. The game with Cyprus might not go ahead due to the foot and mouth crisis. Last week the friendly with Denmark was called off due to the weather with Matt set to make a start.
The Town skipper said: "I hope everything will be all right by then and we will be able to play. We have two important games coming up which we want to play and hopefully get the points on the board."