Arran Lee-Barrett will make his first start for the Blues as Town visit Bristol City on Saturday afternoon looking for their second away win in successive games and three points which will take them out of the bottom three. Lee-Barrett replaces Richard Wright, who is out for four months with a knee ligament injury.
Manager Roy Keane was pleased with former Hartlepool keeper Lee-Barrett’s performance at Cardiff and is convinced that the 25-year-old will do a good job: "I have great faith in Arran. He has impressed me in training over the last few weeks and he did well when he came on at Cardiff last week.
"He had a good presence about him and his handling and kicking were good. The defence seemed very comfortable with him."
With Lee-Barrett the only fit senior goalkeeper, Irish youngster Ian McLoughlin, 18, will be on the bench.
The Blues have no new injury worries but Alex Bruce remains on the sidelines with his groin injury. Aside from that, Luciano Civelli and David Norris are the only sidelined players at present with Norris getting closer to a return all the time and the Argentinian likely to return in January.
Keane says Norris could travel with the squad but won’t be involved in the match: "We’re hoping to have a practice game in the next week or so for David. He’s been doing a lot of warm-ups with us and he’s not far away. It’ll be a big boost for us when he comes back.
"The next one or two weeks will be vital for him, but there’s no reserve fixtures lined-up and it’s difficult organising friendly matches now because Christmas is a busy period. But we can always have a practice game between ourselves on the training pitch.
"I’d like to see him back in some of the games over Christmas. That would be fantastic.”
Town are unlikely to be changed too much from the team which won at Cardiff. The back four of David Wright, Damien Delaney, Gareth McAuley and Liam Rosenior is set to continue with Owen Garvan and Grant Leadbitter again at the centre of the midfield.
Jon Walters and Carlos Edwards both prefer the right midfield role with the skipper moving to the left last week but not impressing until he switched flank prior to his goal. Keane could choose to start with one of Walters or Edwards on the left or may decide to leave out the Trinidadian and bring in Alan Quinn, who took over on the left at Cardiff and played a part in both goals.
Stern John will keep his place up front with Jon Stead likely to replace Tamás Priskin, who failed to impress last week. Stead has scored a goal in each of Town’s last three away games having come off the bench at Cardiff last week. Keane says Connor Wickham is unlikely to be involved, despite scoring for the U18s in the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday.
The Blues boss is hopeful that his side have now turned the corner and will start to progress up the table: "The signs have been there for the last month or two. We keep saying that there have been far too many draws, but we’ve had two victories in the last three or four games now, so the signs are certainly a bit better.
"The players’ attitudes, their mentality to training and the games has been outstanding. I don’t think our performance last week was that great but obviously we showed a good spirit and it was a nice win for us.
"In the last two or three months in terms of the performances, we’ve looked a lot more solid, particularly at the back. We managed to score two last week and we feel if we score two in every game we’ve got a chance of winning as we’ve not been conceding so many.
"I think Stern gave us something different up front last week, Steady’s now scored three goals in the last five games and Jon Walters scored a great goal. We need our attacking players to be putting the ball in the back of the net and that gives us a great chance.”
Bristol City boss Gary Johnson, a Suffolk resident during his time as a player at Cambridge United and as manager of Newmarket Town, says the Blues’ recent wins will have done them good: "Ipswich have removed a couple of monkeys from their back and will be feeling more confident than at any time this season.
"They achieved that crucial first win of the season at home to Derby and now they've won away for the first time. Without a doubt, it makes them more dangerous opponents for us on Saturday.
"They may still be in the bottom three, but they're unbeaten in seven matches and will feel as though they have turned the corner. There is no such thing as an easy game in the Championship and we cannot afford to take them lightly."
Johnson, whose side sit 12th in the Championship on 26 points with a home record of won five, drawn three and lost one so far this season, believes Town are a better side than their current position: "You look at the individuals in their side and it makes you wonder what they are doing near the bottom of the league.
"I think they are in a false position and I think they are too good to go down. They have spent a lot of money and that's why it's such a surprise to see them in the bottom three.
"But Roy Keane looks as though he's sorted things out and I thought they played well at Cardiff.
"Ipswich were the better side on the day, deserved to win and will definitely give us a very hard game."
The Robins will be without defender Jordan Walker, striker Andrius Velicka (both knee ligaments) and defender Brian Wilson (broken shin), while full-back Bradley Orr, red-carded at Portman Road in the Blues’ 6-0 victory over Bristol City two years ago, could return from a calf injury.
Fellow full-back Jamie McAllister is expected to be fine despite limping off late on in last week’s 3-2 home defeat to Sheffield United with a shin injury.
The current Bristol City squad includes former Blues Danny Haynes and Gavin Williams, while Stern John was on loan at Ashton Gate last season from Southampton.
Historically, Town have the edge on the Robins, winning 24 (22 in the league), losing 17 (17) and drawing nine (nine).
Last season, Town won 3-1 at Portman Road through Jon Walters, Pablo Couñago and a Liam Fontaine own goal after City had gone ahead early on through current Blues loanee Stern John.
At Ashton Gate, the sides played out a 1-1 draw with Marvin Elliott putting the home side in front and Giovani Dos Santos netting a last minute penalty for Town.
Saturday’s referee is Tony Bates from Staffordshire, who has shown 34 yellow and no red cards in 14 games so far this season. Bates’s most recent Town match was the 3-0 win at Burnley in August 2008, the game which was delayed due to a parachutist landing on the roof of a stand.
Squad from: Lee-Barrett, McLoughlin, D Wright, Rosenior, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, Brown, Garvan, Leadbitter, Edwards, Walters, Quinn, Healy, Colback, Trotter, Peters, Martin, John, Stead, Priskin, Couñago.
Photo: ITFC